Meet the Family
by Knightwood
Summary: Spin-off from "The Phantom's Arc:My Way" It's been a long time since Lily's seen her dad, and she doesn't have as much contact with him as she'd like. What happens when RJ finally gets to meet his future father-in-law?
1. Meet the Family

Just a short story based on a side-comment from my earlier fics. I hope you all enjoy it.

**Timeline: **Within a couple of weeks of the end of "Phantom's Arc: My Way".

**Legal:** I do not own Power Rangers or the associated names, characters, places, events etc. Anything not covered by the above rights is to be assumed to be purely the creation of the author.

**Rating: **T, there may be some adult themes and language.

**Meet the Family**

It was early in the morning when the young mother woke up in the maternity ward of Ocean Bluff. Her labour the night before had been an incredible strain on her, lasting no less than seventeen hours. She was gently wakened from her sleep by a gentle shake from the on-call doctor.

"Is he here?" She asked weakly with a weary smile on her face.

"I promised I'd wake you when he arrived." The doctor replied. "I'll just show him in."

She looked over to the door, where he stood there, looking as magnificent as he had on the first day she'd met him. He towered over the doctor at close to 6' 8" tall with a huge, muscular build, maintained through years of training, concealed beneath his U.S. Marine corp. dress uniform. He flashed a bright, white smile at her as he dropped his kit bag at the door and made his way over, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Is this her?" He asked excitedly, gesturing to the sleeping baby in her arms. His wife nodded happily.

Both of them had accepted the fact that his chosen career path would sometimes require them to spend long periods apart, but usually his wife was allowed to live on barracks, meaning she was at least in the same country, and he'd get to see her a few times a week. It was unfortunate he was required to re-assign within her third trimester and so was not medically cleared to fly out with him. This had been the first time he had seen her in almost two months, and he had missed the birth of his first daughter. He had missed her dreadfully, but seeing her there with their child had made the 19 hour flight and the sleepless night to get home.

He took off his hat, revealing his crew-cut, bright blonde hair and laid it on the bedside table, before reaching for the bundle in his wife's arms, cradling his daughter softly in his arms. She stirred and woke, though didn't cry. His wife smiled to see his crystal blue eyes light up as he looked into his daughter's tiny face, instantly falling in love with his child.

"I don't know why they say babies can't smile." He commented. "I can swear she was just smiling at me."

"She tried to stay awake, but she was just too tired." His wife replied. "I guess she took so long to come out because she was waiting for her daddy."

"Have you thought of a name Lisa?" The marine asked, his eyes never straying from the bundle in his arms. He smiled and made faces at her, desperate to see the 'smile' again.

His wife looked over to the bouquet of flowers he'd had delivered by the local florist when he realised he wouldn't be there in time. She smiled at the irony. He'd ordered lilies, despite them traditionally being a symbol of mourning because they were the only flowers still available when he phoned. He still never got the hang of converting time difference despite his constant travelling.

"I was thinking of Lily." She replied, smiling at him.

"Lily!" He repeated with a grin. He looked down at his daughter. "Lily!"

He could swear he saw her smiling again, and she squirmed, settling down into his arms, her exhaustion beginning to get the better of her.

"I think she likes it." Lisa commented, seeing the look on her father's face as his daughter drifted off to sleep again.

"Then it's settled. Lily it is." He replied, cupping his wife's cheek with his hand and pulling into a soft kiss. "I love you Lisa."

"I love you too Michael." She replied as he handed back their daughter. He placed his arm around his wife and they looked down on their child together, and dreamt of their future.

Michael was stirred out of his dream by turbulence as the plane began to circle the airport for final approach. It had now been almost twenty years since that day; his beautiful daughter was now nineteen years old. He knew she'd grown up, but much of what bothered him was how much she had grown up. That and much of it had happened in his absence.

He pulled the neatly folded letter from the pocket of his tunic and looked at it again. He had received the letter close to two months ago somewhere on the outskirts of some desert town whose name he couldn't pronounce, and so had taken to calling "Middle-East California" in the barracks. She knew she was no longer at the boarding school he enrolled her in, she told him she had left under an advanced study programme to study out with the school with tutors in a kind of home-learning programme.

She had sent him a picture of the other guys she was there with. They looked like a fun group, and she described them all so fondly that he knew she was being taken care of, but across her letters she especially mentioned someone she only referred to as 'RJ', and he knew something was going on between them. He wanted to meet the guy and make sure he was right for her, he was curious about a grown man who still called himself 'RJ', though her last letter especially had bothered him and spurred him into action, requesting leave to return home. She'd told him in a letter that she planned to marry this man.

As the plane approached the terminal and he disembarked, he hefted his kit-bag onto his shoulder. The nearest airport to Ocean Bluff was a good three hour drive away. He approached the car rental stand slowly. The girl at the counter observed him thoughtfully, biting her lower lip. He was still an attractive man, despite his advancing years. His hair was slightly greying, and he had a couple more wrinkles, but his build was still incredible. His years of service to his country had left him in incredible health. Not wanting to travel in his uniform, he was wearing a pair of black jeans and a tight grey t-shirt that gave away a fair amount of his physique.

"Can I help you sir?" She asked, not really concentrating on the forms she gave him.

"I just need something to get to Ocean Bluff." He replied, beginning to fill out his personal details and passing her a credit card. "Open ended rental. I don't know how long I'll be staying."

The girl swiped the card and began searching the database. "I have a ford that gets pretty good gas mileage."

"If it's got four wheels and an engine it'll do." He groaned, rubbing his eyes as he finished with the form. The desk clerk got a look at the tattoo on the inside of his left forearm.

"You served with the marines?" She asked. He looked at his tattoo, then back to her.

"I still do." He replied. "I'm just here to visit my daughter."

"It'll be brought round the front." She told him, handing him a ticket. "Wait by the sign outside."

Michael made his way outside, thinking about the way everything had happened. He hadn't seen his daughter in...he needed to think long and hard about that one. It was only then that he realised he hadn't seen her since Christmas well over a year previously, coming close to two years ago now. It wasn't much of a surprise her life had moved on, he knew she wouldn't be his little girl forever, but it surprised him how much it had moved on. He looked at the picture again, observing the group in it. He had memorised her descriptions of her friends and almost knew all of them off by heart.

Kneeling at the front of the picture was a young girl with glasses and wavy black hair, obviously her friend Fran. Next to her was a young Asian looking man, significantly shorter than any of the other guys, and the only one he recognised. He had met Theo once before, and knew he and Lily had been firm friends for many years. He liked him, though had to admit liking him a hell of a lot more when he figured out there was nothing romantic between them. Even if Lily's letter hadn't explained that he was dating Fran, he could probably have guessed from the picture. He had his arms wrapped around her, holding her a lot more closely within his personal space, and more intimately than would have been appropriate for a mere friend.

Behind them was a blonde guy with a mischievous grin, holding a couple of fingers over Theo's head. Obviously this was Dominic. She had told him how he had arrived a couple of months ago, and was a long time friend of RJ's who had spent many years travelling. He wasn't sure what to make of him. One minute Lily was talking about all the pranks he pulled, and all the havoc he caused, making him sound like a bit of an irresponsible idiot, but then he also got the impression from her descriptions of him that he knew when it was time to get serious, and that he was a dependable friend.

The next one was obviously Casey, standing near the back, carrying a dark-haired young woman across his shoulders, her face equal parts panic and laughter. She had described him in great detail, emphasising his passion and drive to succeed. She had described him as a fast learner with a driving passion to prove himself. Apparently despite joining the programme significantly later than Theo and herself, he had made great strides in his learning and was easily an equal to them both. She also explained that he was dating Camille, the young woman he was manhandling playfully over his shoulders. Apparently she had come into the group later on. She had taken a while to warm to Camille, regularly describing her in less than favourable terms, but the two of them had become firm friends as a result of her relationship with Casey.

Of course he recognised his daughter, though his eyes strayed to the older man standing behind her with an arm wrapped tightly around her waist and a broad smile on his face. This was RJ.

He couldn't help feeling a little anger rising in him. He wasn't how he envisioned the man his daughter would end up with at all. He had long hair, and slightly messy stubble, a sharp contrast from his own crew-cut hair and clean shaven appearance. How could a man who couldn't even look after his own appearance look after his little girl? He was skinny and wore baggy, slightly aging clothing, making him look like a tramp in the eyes of her father. He put away the photograph as the car was pulled up to the front. The car lot worker threw him the keys.

"It's got a full tank, so it should get you anywhere you want to go." He told Michael as he loaded his belongings in the trunk. The old marine just got in and pulled away from the kerb quickly, leaving the airport behind.

Back in Ocean Bluff, Fran and Camille were busy clearing up as the last of the customers left. Fran was still sidelined after Dai Shi's attack on her. She couldn't risk losing control of her fox spirit again; she was still recovering from the effects of Dai Shi's zukado power. Camille had agreed that she would stay behind with Fran any time the Rangers were needed in the city. Since they had helped the Rangers against him with the Spirit Rangers, they were now legitimate targets for him as he demonstrated by kidnapping and torturing Fran, so leaving her undefended was not an option. Camille was about to turn the sign on the door when a strong arm pushed it open and Michael stomped in.

"Sorry, we're closing up for the evening." Fran informed him. Michael wasn't paying attention though; he was getting the photo out of his pocket. Lily had written to him and asked him to come and see her a while ago, but he couldn't make it in time for his meeting with her, and he had no idea where she lived now. He showed Fran the photograph.

"I'm sorry, I won't stay long I'm just looking for this gir..." he stopped in his tracks as he recognised the two young women from the picture. "Fran?"

Fran approached him curiously, taking the photograph from him and inspecting it.

"Where did you get this?" She asked him. "What do you want with Lily?"

"Where can I find her?" He asked a little more forcefully. Camille came to Fran's side as they tried to gauge the situation, deciding if they'd need to defend themselves. "What are you two doing here?"

Then the others arrived behind him, their clothes and hair messed up and covered in slime. The latest of Dai Shi's creatures had given them a pretty wild and messy fight. Casey arrived first, throwing open the door.

"Dom, I still can't believe you did that!" He laughed loudly. "Where did you learn that?"

"I had a lot of time on my hands when I was travelling he answered, coming into the room. They both stopped, silently observing the stranger before them. Michael eyed them up curiously as purple gloop slipped off them in large droplets, onto the floor.

"Uh, guys?" Casey began. Theo stumbled in the door after them, landing back-first on the floor, laughing with relief at the victory, but his laughter quickly died out as he landed at Michael's feet, looking up at the Marine.

"Ummmm..." He began, scrambling back to his feet as he observed him.

"Theo?" Michael asked. "Casey, Dominic what the hell is going on here?"

"I might ask the same thing!" Casey responded sharply. "Who are you? How do you know our names?"

"Why did you have this picture?" Fran chipped in, holding up the picture.

"Uh...guys, I should tell you." Theo began as Michael gave them all a look that indicated he was quickly losing patience and wanted an explanation. "This is..."

Unfortunately at exactly the wrong time, Lily and RJ stumbled into the restaurant, laughing and joking about their recent victory in much the same state as the others. RJ grabbed her around the waist, wrestling her playfully to the floor as they laughed, landing on top of her.

"Lil!" Theo snapped, attracting her attention and nodding in the direction of Michael. His face was now beginning to go red, and the veins in his neck stood up as he beheld the scene unfolding before him.

"Uh...uh...uh..." She stammered, gently shoving and pushing RJ's arms away as she noticed her father's less than impressed stare in the direction of her fiancée. His gaze never shifted from the Wolf Master as he got up, allowing Lily to get up and compose herself as much as she could under the circumstance. "Hi Dad."

Lily could feel herself turning red with embarrassment as she realised that this must be a rather bizarre scene for him to come in on. She also felt a great sense of worry. She could tell by her dad's expression that he wasn't happy with what he saw. She had seen that expression before. It was the one that said half of him was happy he didn't have a weapon to hand in case he did something he regretted, while the other half of him wished his gun wasn't back at barracks, and all that anger was directed at RJ.

"Lily, what the hell is going on here?" He hissed, crossing over to his daughter, his judgemental gaze shifting between her and RJ.

"I think we might have gotten off on the wrong foot here." RJ mused, wiping his hand on one of the few clean patches on his jeans and offering it to Michael. "I'm RJ, I own this pizza parlour. We all live and work here."

Michael glowered at him, ignoring his hand. RJ retracted it understanding not only how bizarre all this must look to Michael, but also that the look in his eye suggested he might just try to rip his arm off and beat him to death with it. He guessed seeing the fiancé he'd never met before manhandling his only daughter was probably not the greatest of first impressions he could have made.

"Lily, get cleaned up!" He snapped. "We need to talk."

Lily looked around apologetically at her friends before sheepishly making her way upstairs to shower and change.

"The apartment's just this way." Theo said to the old marine, leading him into the back room. Casey came over to RJ and placed a hand sympathetically on his shoulder.

"And I though your dad was scary." He remarked heading upstairs.

"Hate to be you man." Dominic chimed in, also heading upstairs. RJ sighed and shook his head in a defeated manner, before following them, leaving Fran and Camille alone in the restaurant.

"I just mopped this floor!" Fran grumbled, seeing the mess they left behind. Camille just shrugged and made her way to collect the mop and bucket. Things were going to get a lot more heated before the night was out. Everyone could feel the atmosphere becoming more tense, and no one doubted that it was only a matter of time before someone sparked off the powder keg building between Michael, Lily and RJ. Despite how much she admired her, sometimes Fran was glad she wasn't Lily, and now was one of those times.


	2. Pressure Builds

RJ took a little time to enjoy the warmth of the shower as he cleaned the purple gunk from himself. He was happy that they now had a couple of en-suites in the apartment. Not only did it now mean that a few of them could have showers at the same time, speeding up the process, it also meant he was able to use the shower in the main bathroom and avoid the uncomfortable situation of Lily's dad seeing both him and Lily using the same en-suite.

He hadn't really made the best first impression. Manhandling Lily to the floor covered in purple slime in front of her dad, who had never even met him before had totally eclipsed his previous number one embarrassing introduction. This totally eclipsed the "Mt. Kilimanjaro Pizza Experiment" blowing up in his face directly before meeting the Rangers for the first time. Master Mao had told him to expect the Rangers, but when they arrived, he was covered in flour and staggering around the place like he was high as a result of the explosion. He could tell by the looks on their faces they weren't impressed. He was just lucky he had a chance to prove himself over time.

He a part of him started to regret his decision to insist that Lily ask to see her dad and straighten things out with him. He clearly didn't like RJ that much was obvious. He knew how much it was painful to be at odds with his own father, and he knew it upset Lily that she didn't get the level of contact with him she would like. The two of them had grown apart quite a bit, so things were strained between them. He wanted her to straighten things out before the wedding because he hated to see how hurt she was that despite her regular correspondence, she rarely got replies. She had admitted herself that he had only written to her three times in the last year, and one of those was a 'get well soon' card.

Finishing off his shower, he dried himself off and headed into Dom's room and began getting changed. Reasoning that it was too late to make a first impression, he decided that at least the second impression needn't be so bad and had looked out his best outfit, his neatest pair of jeans, and a purple silk shirt. He brushed his hair back into a pony tail and tied it back. Checking his appearance in the mirror, he headed back through to the living room to find Dom, Casey and Fran talking with Michael. Fran had prepared them some pizza, allowing them the opportunity to try and talk him up to Lily's father. Seeing RJ arriving in the room, his jaw clenched a little and his mood noticeably darkened. RJ breathed a little sigh to himself. Winning over the marine was not going to be easy.

"It's a nice place you have here." Michael said a little coldly. "Video games, TV's, basketball court, gym. Everything a young man could want."

RJ noticed the emphasis on the words 'young man'. Hey were said with a little subtle hint of venom. Michael was subtly questioning RJ's maturity. He had to admit that it did seem like more than a little bit of a bachelor pad.

"I like to think I have a healthy relationship with my inner child." He joked, laughing a little as he sat down on the sofa opposite his future father-in-law. Michael didn't laugh though, that little crack did nothing to break the ice. "I believe that there is a place for play and relaxation in a healthy lifestyle."

"So what kind of teacher are you?" He asked.

"Uh...we already explained..."

"I want to hear it from RJ." Michael interrupted Casey as he tried to interject. "How did you and my daughter meet?"

RJ was glad they had all rehearsed the cover story for when they hoped he would come by invitation a few weeks previously.

"I'm not a teacher." He replied. "I was a student at the school a few years ago, but I support their advanced study programme so much that I allowed them to send some students to stay with me."

"So you just work here." He surmised.

"I do more than work here, I own it." RJ told him with a smile. Jungle Karma really was his pride and joy. Ever since he started working as a chef it was his dream to open his own restaurant. He still couldn't believe his good fortune when Andrew Hartford had shown so much faith in his business plan that he lent him the money to buy Jungle Karma. He had begun saving, but he thought he'd be a lot older than he was by the time he could secure a mortgage or business loan to open the restaurant. "It's doing great business, but more importantly than that, I really love the work."

"So all of you live and work here?" Michael asked.

"I made it one of my few ground rules that if the school sent me students that they work for me." RJ told him. "I think having a job teaches a sense of responsibility."

"Didn't it interfere with their studies?" Michael continued with the grilling, helping himself to a beer. Dom arrived back in the room, noticing Michael helping himself to his beer. RJ saw his brow raising a little, but gave him a barely registered shake of the head. He didn't want to make a big thing about it.

"It never did." RJ said confidently. "All three of them got their high school diplomas with impressive marks."

This last part was the only part of the story that was partly true. Since Pai Zhuq took students in from such a young age, they knew it would be important that they got a proper education to be able to function in the real world, and so had a number of tutors to guide their students through their normal studies between their training sessions. Lily and Theo had in fact graduated long before they arrived in Ocean Bluff, while Casey was awarded his diploma not long afterwards. Even the Order of the Claw had seen the wisdom in embracing modern practices and supported learning through correspondence courses.

"So where do you three fit in?" Michael asked, gesturing to Camille, Fran and Dominic.

"They're just friends of ours." RJ replied. "Dominic and I have been friends and years, so when he came to town it was only natural he sought me out. Fran and Camille came to work for me a while back, and moved in not long afterwards."

"All this does seem rather...cosy." Michael remarked sarcastically. "I mean there are eight of you living here."

"We all just exercise a healthy respect for each other's personal space and everything works out alright." RJ replied with a smile. So far he had managed at least not to anger her father any further. Lily arrived back in the room, dressed in a light, airy yellow dress, thinking much along the same lines as RJ that it was best to try at least for a decent second impression. She sat on the couch next to RJ. She considered putting her arm around him, but thought better of it and pulled it back, clasping her hands in her lap where her father could see them. Now definitely wasn't the time for the 'couple stuff'.

"Dad, I invited you ages ago." Lily greeted him with a smile. "We were expecting you a couple of weeks ago."

"So I see." He grumbled sarcastically, casting a judgemental look at RJ. "Sorry, but the military takes a while to grant leave. I can't just decide to come home from the middle-east at the drop of a hat."

"You know what I mean." She sighed. "You never called to re-schedule. We weren't expecting you."

"I didn't know I needed to make an appointment to see my own daughter." He said sarcastically.

"No, I just need to make one to see you two years in advance." She grumbled under her breath. Michael looked at her which sent a chill through her. She prayed he hadn't heard that. He took a sip of beer which relieved her a little. Clearly he hadn't heard.

"RJ tells me you graduated." He stated. "Do you have any plans for the future?"

"Dad, you know..." She began to speak, but got a glance at his face and decided it was best to approach that subject gently. She figured that wasn't what he meant when he was asking about 'plans'.

"I've decided I want to take it easy for a couple of years." She told him, nervously stroking some hair out of her face. "I've been going to school non-stop since I was five, I want to take a break and decide what I want to do now."

RJ didn't need to look at Michael to feel his glare burning into him. Obviously Michael thought that Lily not going straight to college or something had more than a little to do with her relationship with RJ.

"Lily, you should continue your education." Her father implored her. "You're a smart girl, you could do anything, and you could go anywhere. Don't throw away all your hard work."

RJ felt a warm temper rising in his chest as he said this. It was a not-so-thinly veiled dig at his expense. He knew damn fine what her dad meant by 'don't throw away all your hard work' and it was nothing to do with Lily choosing not to go to college right away. He felt her hand grabbing his, lacing her fingers with his and squeezing gently. Looking to her, he could see her ears turning a little red under her hair in a mixture of anger and embarrassment. Obviously her dad's less-than-diplomatic comment hadn't been lost on her.

"Dad, I just want a break." She reiterated. "College will still be there in a couple of years."

He got up, beginning to pace the apartment thoughtfully, his eyes coming to rest on the training area. He could recognise much of the equipment.

"You do martial arts?" He asked.

"We all do." RJ answered, letting go of Lily's hand and getting up, making his way over to where Michael was inspecting the array of weapons in the apartment. "It's great exercise, it focuses the mind and more importantly, it's a lot of fun."

Michael turned and looked RJ up and down, trying to assess the situation. He hadn't expected to find any common ground with the unusual, scruffy little man who seemed to have Lily entranced.

"Well has Lily told you I'm a black belt in karate?" He asked. "I learned in the corp. I was a two-time heavyweight champion back on the base."

"She mentioned that." RJ told him.

"So are you keeping up your practice?" Michael asked his daughter. "I started teaching her karate when she was little."

"Dad, I gave that up ages ago." She murmured weakly. This was just another thing she knew would disappoint him. "I do Kung Fu now."

"Kung Fu?" He asked. "When did you start this?"

"I started Kung Fu when I started boarding school." She admitted. "They taught us that in Phys. Ed."

Michael didn't look especially happy about not knowing this about his daughter. In many ways it hurt that there was so much he didn't know about her anymore.

"We all still train." RJ interjected with enthusiasm. "A healthy body makes for a healthy mind."

Michael renewed his dislike of RJ at this. He was hurt that she trained with this man. It felt like one of the connections he still had with his daughter had been pushed aside by this glorified pizza boy.

"I always thought Kung Fu was a lot of wasted energy." He sneered in response. "From what I've seen it's just flapping your arms around in a demented chicken dance."

"That's a bit disrespectful." RJ began. "It's also more than a little dismissive. There are literally thousands of styles of Kung Fu, all focussing on different aspects and strengths of the user. Personally I trained under several masters before developing the style that works best for me."

"Maybe I'm wrong about this." Michael sighed, picking up a pair of training mitts and making his way onto the training mats. "Maybe you can give me a demonstration?"

RJ looked to Lily, both of them flashing a look of panic at each other. It didn't take a brain surgeon to figure out no good could come of him sparring against his future father-in-law who had made little effort to disguise the fact he didn't like him in the slightest.

"You know, I've had kind of a big dinner, and it is getting late." RJ rushed out. "Maybe we can take a rain check?"

"Oh come on RJ, I'm sure you have plenty of energy." He replied. Lily was starting to get a little worried at this point.

"You know, I have some energy to work off before bed time." Casey interjected, getting off the couch and making his way over. By the looks on the other's faces, they'd all had much the same thoughts. As her dad turned her back to her and prepared to face Casey, Lily mouthed the words 'thank you' to the Red Ranger. Casey nodded to her to acknowledge the gesture. In truth he didn't really have any desire to fight her dad, but then he could see that this was one of the easiest ways to curb Michael's enthusiasm. They faced off after strapping on sparring equipment and tapped gloves to begin the contest.

Michael circled his opponent, bouncing on the palls of his feet, preparing for the attack. Without warning, he rushed Casey, scoring a bone-rattling kick to his ribs, before back-fisting him hard in the face. Casey landed hard on the mat, where he looked up at the Marine in anger, mopping blood from his nose with his wrist.

"Casey!" Camille shrieked, rushing to his side, cradling him in her arms. She glowered angrily at Lily's dad for his assault. Casey patted her shoulder gently to let her know he was alright. The only thing that stopped him jumping back to his feet and pounding Michael was the fact Lily was in the room.

"Dad!" She shrieked, rounding on him. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"When we spar, we usually only compete touch contact." RJ explained, helping Casey to his feet. He felt a little guilty about the fact Casey got hurt, obviously that shot was meant for him, but it only confirmed what they all suspected. It would have been a bad idea to let him spar with RJ.

"Sorry Casey." He responded, extending a hand. "In the corp. We usually always train full contact. I guess I have a little trouble adapting."

Casey looked between him and Lily, before shaking his hand. He obviously still wasn't happy about getting hit, but he was willing to let it drop.

"You know, I think we should all get some rest." RJ suggested. "Your dad's had a long trip. We can talk in the morning."

"Well I suppose I could do with a bit of sleep." Michael replied, picking up his kit bag. "Where can I sleep?"

"You can have my room." RJ told him, gesturing to Dominic's room. They had also rehearsed this. It was considered unwise to let him know that Lily and RJ had been sharing a room, and so everyone had agreed to shift around for the length of his visit. Michael's grilling and Casey's injuries only confirmed their suspicions of that. Michael came over to Lily, placing a hand on his daughter's cheek.

"I'm sorry about this." He told her, stroking her cheek with his thumb. "We'll talk in the morning. I really have missed you."

"I missed you too dad." She replied. Michael pulled into her, kissing her cheek softly before turning and heading to his assigned room, leaving the others in the back room with Casey.

"Oh my God, Casey I'm so sorry." Lily gushed, coming over to her friend as he continued to mop his nose with tissues. "I can't believe my dad did that to you."

"I'll be fine." He grunted as he pulled off his t-shirt, revealing a huge red mark across his ribcage. Dominic handed him an icepack which he held to his ribs with a wince of pain.

"Lily, maybe we should all get some rest." RJ suggested. "Maybe your dad will have calmed down a bit by the morning."

Casey, Camille and Lily all looked at him a little unconvinced.

"Ok, that's probably a little optimistic." He conceded. "I'll keep trying Lily, just stay strong."

"I'll try." She murmured, kissing him softly before making her way to Camille's room where she'd be bunking with her for a few days. "It's not going to be easy. My dad's never been a very reasonable person."

RJ hated to see her so upset, but he knew what it was like to have a complicated family. His own dad was never exactly a normal guy either.

"Casey, sorry you had to take that bullet for me." He told the tiger. "I promise I'll make it up to you."

"No problem RJ." He replied as RJ left.

"You know, I'm so glad I'm not RJ right now." Dominic reiterated as he headed off to bed. "If that's what he did to you..."

"I'm just glad we don't have to think about that." Casey remarked. They all knew how strong and capable RJ was, but then again he wasn't exactly going to start beating on his fiancée's father. He probably wouldn't have been able to fight back, much as Casey hadn't.

"Are you sure you're going to be alright?" Fran asked, gathering her things. Casey looked to Camille and smiled.

"I'll be just fine." He replied.

As Fran went to bed, leaving Camille and Casey alone, she wrapped her arms around him, comforting him in his pain.

"Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?" She asked him. Casey looked at her and raised one eyebrow.

"I'm sure we could think of something." He remarked.


	3. Light the Fuse

Michael knelt on the grass behind the house he had been granted on base in his pristine-white gi, tied at the waist with a black belt. Today was a special day. Today was the day he'd receive his first student.

"Daddy!" The young child yelled as she rushed over to him in her brand-new gi, throwing her arms around his neck. Despite his resolve, Michael just had to return the gesture.

"Lily, during our lessons you have to act a certain way." He told her as he released her. She stepped back a little, puzzled by the remark. "I'll always be your daddy outside our lessons, but I need to teach you properly."

"What do I do daddy?" She asked.

"When we have our lessons we begin like this." He told her, standing up with his legs together. He bowed down low, keeping his eyes on his daughter. She returned the gesture. He smiled as he realised her gaze never left him. That was one lesson he could skip.

"Also, during our lessons, you must call me 'sensei'." He continued. "Do you understand?"

"Yes Sensei Daddy." She replied. Michael had to try hard not to laugh.

"No, just Sensei." He corrected her. "While I'm teaching you, you have to call me sensei."

"Yes Sensei." She replied cheerfully.

Michael smiled down at the young girl. She had grown so much he couldn't believe it. He could hardly believe it had been less than seven years since the day he had cradled that tiny bundle of wrinkled pink flesh in his arms. "Shall we begin?"

"Yes Sensei." She replied.

"Stand like this." He told her adopting a horse stance. His little girl copied her dad without question. "Now, we'll start from the beginning. Do what I do."

As he ran through the basic punching drill, he couldn't keep the grin from his face. His job required him to be away from home more often than he'd like, and while he enjoyed family time with Lisa and Lily, it felt good to have something that was just theirs. Lisa had been hesitant at first with Michael wanting to teach their young daughter Karate, but looking to the kitchen window where his beautiful wife was pretending to dry dishes, he smiled to see her look of relief. She knew she was worried over nothing, and he was overjoyed to have this connection to his beautiful little Lily.

Michael stirred and woke in the morning, finding himself in his assigned bedroom in the house of the man who wanted to take his little girl from him. Remembering all those times he spent with her in the early days, it galled him to think that some jumped-up sixties throw back had duped her into following him to the aisle. He got up and headed into the en-suite, opening his toiletry bag and setting out his belongings in order and prepared to get ready for the day ahead.

He grabbed his shampoo/conditioner combo hair treatment (0600 hours) and stepped into the shower, running it until temperature. This threw him off schedule. He was used to standard-issue field showers, and so wasn't prepared for the water being to temperature when he switched it on (shower and wash hair, 0610 hours). He stepped out, drying himself off carefully. (Dried and preparing for grooming, 0612 hours, five minutes ahead of schedule.) He went to the mirror and looked at himself. His hair was cut much too short to require combing, so he began lathering himself up for his morning shave (shaving, 0615 hours, 6 minutes ahead of schedule.) He shaved off what little stubble had accumulated overnight, stroking his bare chin with his hand. (Grooming complete, 0617 hours, 7 minutes ahead of schedule.)

Getting dressed, he checked his appearance once more in the mirror. He was ready for the difficult day ahead. He pulled the photo out of his pocket and looked at it once more. His eyes watered as he thought about his daughter. She had grown into such a beautiful, intelligent and wonderful young woman. It broke his heart to think how much of her life he had missed out on. He had missed out on so much of her growth that he walked in on a young woman, so clearly smitten with this spaced-out hippie that she was willing to throw her life away on him.

It pained him to think about this 'RJ' guy. He might own a business, but what could he offer her? He was a glorified pizza boy! The man was more than a little unusual. He wandered about the place like he was high, though he was yet to smell weed in the apartment. He spouted fortune-cookie-esque-philosophy like it actually mattered a damn and he dressed like one of those god damned demonstrators that pelted him and his friends with eggs and insults any time they came home from a war-zone. He knew that sometimes his countries' foreign policy was controversial, but that didn't stop it hurting when his own countrymen threw hurtful insults his way when he came home on the rare occasions he could, not realising he was merely doing the job he was charged with. No-one ever asked him his opinion, he like those he became friends with went where they were needed. Sometimes they didn't come home. So far he always had, and it angered him to think people would protest them. So many of his friends...good friends...family, had given their lives for their fellow soldiers that in his mind it demeaned their sacrifice and their character. He could imagine RJ being one of those sign-wielding, egg-throwing protesters he felt like tearing apart any time he saw them.

Heading into the back room, he was surprised to find that everyone was already awake, and appeared to be hard at work training. At this time, Dominic seemed to be sparring with Lily, wielding a blunt, plastic mock up of the Rhino Blade, while Lily was carrying a training version of the Jungle Mace.

He couldn't help watching her with a sense of pride. She was more than just beautiful, she was also far stronger than he realised. He again felt the disappointment building in him that he had missed out on so much of her growth that he had failed to see her develop into the powerful young woman he could see before him. Dom managed to get the upper hand, getting inside the Jungle Mace's destructive arc and whipping it from her grasp. He took her to the ground, before levelling the blade section of his weapon above her throat.

"Gotcha." He chirped cheerfully. Michael had to restrain himself from running over there and battering Dominic. How dare he put his hands on Lily like that? She was his little girl! He backed down a little as Dom withdrew the weapon and extended a hand, helping Lily to her feet.

"You got me Dom." She replied. "Good move."

"I have to agree." RJ stated. "Lily, next time remember to keep your defences up when you attack."

"I will RJ." She replied, seeing her dad standing there. "Morning dad, how did you sleep?"

"I slept pretty well. RJ's bed's a bit more comfortable than a sleeping bag in the desert." He replied. Lily bit her lip and looked to the floor. She missed being with RJ that night. She had grown used to his weight and his warmth next to her each night. It was hard to sleep without his arms around her. It felt...wrong not to have him with her. "You're all up early."

"We always like to get some practice in before opening." Theo informed him. "You all get cleaned up, I'll start on breakfast."

"How's the face?" He asked as Casey passed him. He had an impressive black eye and his nose was noticeably swollen from the sucker-punch he'd given him the night before. He hadn't actually wanted to hurt the kid, that shot was meant for RJ but he had chickened out of their match. He had to admit feeling bad that Casey got hurt in the cross-fire, but he just had to send a message to RJ. His little girl was off-limits.

"I'll be fine." Casey assured him. "It looks worse than it feels."

Michael joined Theo in the kitchen as he began pulling bagels out of the fridge. Theo was his only real link to Lily's past. He had met him before on one of his visits home. Lily had brought him to lunch when she met him; apparently they had some kind of thing for every second Tuesday of the month. At first he hadn't liked Theo a whole lot, but had come around to him, especially when he realised through the way they behaved around each other that he was only a friend and nothing deeper. After that he'd grown to like the young man, he was a good influence on Lily, he was...responsible.

"Can I help?" Michael asked.

"Could you keep an eye on those?" Theo asked, gesturing to the grill. "I just need to find where RJ's hidden the creamed cheese."

"So what do you think of RJ?" He asked. "Honestly?"

Theo felt his heart skip a beat as Michael asked this. He could see that he was being grilled for damning information on RJ. He had to think very carefully about what he said.

"RJ's great." He replied. "He always was more like a friend than a mentor to us. He accepted us into his home without a second thought."

"What's the story with Camille and Fran?" He asked. "Is he in the habit of taking in young women?" Theo knew where this was heading and side-stepped it.

"Their situations were kind of complicated." He told his friend's father. "Casey helped Camille get out of a bad relationship and she needed somewhere to stay. As for Fran, he's been friends with her for a while. When he found out she needed help, he invited her to stay."

"It sounds like he really helps out those he cares for." Michael stated, pulling out the grill and turning the bagels.

"He really does." Theo replied. "When Lily had her accident he really looked after her."

"When did they get together?" He asked. Theo had only just found the creamed cheese and was coming to the counter when he heard this and froze. This was the first time Michael had even approached the relationship. He didn't know how to answer that one, he searched for inspiration but found none. He had walked into that situation; it was going to sound like RJ took advantage. He answered honestly.

"They got together when she was recovering." He told Michael.

"So he began a relationship with her while she was blind?" He asked. Theo could see where this was going, but couldn't see any way around it that wouldn't make RJ look bad.

"That's right, but he didn't take advantage, Lily made the first move." He rushed out, hoping to appease her father. Judging by his expression, he hadn't succeeded.

"Did RJ do anything to discourage her?" He asked. "She was vulnerable after all."

"It was a mutual thing." Theo assured him. "When I first found out, I thought it might be because of the accident, but the two of them really care about each other. They've been through so much that I know they love each other."

Michael looked at Theo, still less than convinced. He could see that Theo was trying to avoid inevitable bloodshed if he thought RJ had taken advantage of Lily. Of course, that was exactly what he thought.

"Michael, I can call you that right?" RJ began, arriving back in the room. Michael clenched his jaw tightly as he heard RJ's voice behind him. Theo could see the Marine's fists clenching and grabbed the bread knife. Leaving a sharp object within reach probably wasn't a good idea.

"You may." He replied. "What can I call you?"

"RJ will be fine." He answered, coming to the kitchen area. "Everyone calls me that, even my dad."

"Why does a grown man go by the name RJ?" He asked. "I would have thought you'd have grown out of that."

"My name's kind of long and embarrassing." He explained. "I've used RJ since I was a kid."

"Hey dad." Lily greeted him as she arrived, inserting herself between RJ and Michael protectively. "Has RJ invited you to lunch yet?"

"I was just getting to that." RJ told her. "Michael, I realise we have things to talk about. I was wondering if you'd like to join Lily and I for lunch in the city later."

"I'm looking forward to it." He replied a little coldly. Maybe this RJ was smarter than he gave him credit for. He couldn't exactly kill him with Lily standing in the same room; she'd never speak to him again. "One O'clock?"

"That sounds perfect." RJ replied. "I know this great Chinese..."

His words were cut off as his morpher bleeped, informing the Rangers that there was another attack in the city. RJ wordlessly cursed his luck as he looked at Lily.

"We have to go." He told Michael. "If we don't see you before then, the restaurant's down the street on the right. Ask for Charlie and tell him you know me, he'll see you right."

Michael watched the Rangers rush from the room, curious as to exactly why six of them needed to run out all at the same time.

"I guess we're opening by ourselves again." Fran sighed, gesturing to Camille. "Help me set up the restaurant, OK?"

Michael made a mental note of this. By the way Fran was talking, it sounded like RJ made a habit of running off and leaving them to deal with the restaurant. What kind of man could he possibly be if he kept running out on his own business? There was no way he could take care of Lily. He wasn't good enough for her, that much was obvious. He went to the training area and picked up a couple of dumbbells, beginning to do arm curls to work off frustration. Lily probably wasn't going to like what he had to say at lunch, but sometimes a father had to step in when his little girl was going to get hurt, and she was sure to be hurt with RJ. She was about to make the biggest mistake of her life, and it was up to him to stop her.

RJ and Lily rushed into the restaurant, looking for her father. They were already twenty minutes late, not a good start, but Dai Shi's army didn't really care about being considerate of the Ranger's personal lives.

"Charlie, is our guest here?" RJ asked his old friend. This was the first time Lily had actually met Charlie while she could see. She had to suppress a small chuckle. RJ had explained he had nicknamed the restaurant owner 'Charlie' when he worked as a chef for him because he looked like Charlie Chaplain. She had to admit that RJ had a point; he really did, right down to the tiny moustache.

"He is." Charlie replied. "I should warn you, he seems pissed about something."

"Just the fact that I'm marrying his daughter," RJ informed him, "just send one of the waiters over with a menu quickly."

"And dial 911 if dad tries to kill RJ." Lily interjected half-jokingly. With that, they made their way over to the table where Michael was sipping water while he looked out of the window. The fact the bread basket was empty informed them he had been waiting a while.

"You know; its basic courtesy to arrive on time when you make an appointment." Michael scoffed as they sat down.

"Sorry dad." Lily replied, exchanging a little glance with RJ. This was not the best of starts to what they already knew would be a difficult conversation. "I'm sure you know about the Power Rangers and all the monster attacks in this city. Sometimes things..."

"Jungle Karma's just down the street." He reminded them.

"Sure, but we had to get changed." Lily responded. RJ and Lily breathed a mutual sigh of relief as Charlie arrived with the menus, breaking the moment.

"What can I get you?" He asked.

"I'll have the Wonton soup, I remember it was amazing!" Lily gushed. "That and I'll have some chicken curry."

"Prawn salad." Michael shot out, handing back the menu without even looking at it. "Steak medium rare."

Charlie looked at RJ, his feelings obvious. Although they offered western food on the menu, Charlie always found it a little strange, almost rude that anyone would go into a Chinese restaurant and order western food.

"I'll have the Peking ribs, followed by Beef stir fry, and could you send a bottle of the house Red?" RJ asked, handing back his own menu. "I love this place, I used to work here."

"So you opened a restaurant in the same street." Michael replied coldly. "A little mean to try and steal the business from your friend isn't it?"

"We had an understanding." RJ responded, looking to Lily. "We attract different markets, we don't really compete."

"Well that's a bit of a laissez-faire attitude to have to your business plan." Michael commented. RJ just sighed and accepted this. He was never going to say anything that would make him happy.

"Look, I think we all know why we're here." RJ began, taking Lily's hand and holding it. "We wanted to talk to you about our relationship."

"I figured as much." Michael snapped as the waiter arrived, pouring them all a glass of wine. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Excuse me?" RJ responded. "I'm getting some aggressive vibes here. We're trying to talk reasonably about this."

"I haven't even met you and you're asking my little girl to marry you?" He hissed angrily, his fists clenching. "How long have you been together?"

"We've been together a few months now." RJ told him. "It's coming close to a year."

"Dad, we're not rushing anything." Lily told him. "We've not even set a date yet..."

"If I have my way then you won't." He sneered. "What kind of future can you offer Lily?"

"I can only do what I can do." RJ told him. "I'm happy running JKP, if Lily decides she wants to have a career..."

"What about college?" Michael interrupted. "Have you thought about that?"

"Dad, I told you I want to take a break." Lily reminded him. "I'm not saying I'll never go to college, it just isn't in my plans right now."

"If Lily wants to go to college, I'll support her." RJ chipped in. "She's got a home with me, and with my business, I can support her financially."

"In the meantime she's just going to bus tables for a living." Michael snorted, sipping his wine. This angered RJ a little. He had a lot of pride in his business, and it upset him when anyone looked down on it.

"Dad, I like my job." Lily told him.

"Lily, you're better than that!" He responded sharply, leaning across the table. "You don't need to be some kind of..."

"What's wrong with bussing tables?" RJ asked him. "I'm a chef, and also a waiter. It's been a pretty good living. There's no shame..."

"Lily's better than a common servant!" Michael interrupted.

"I work in the service industry." RJ corrected him. "No one could call Gordon Ramsey a servant."

"Well he..."

"Or Jean-Christophe Novelli." He continued. "What about Anthony Warrel Thomson? Or Gary Rhodes?"

"You run a take-away." Michael said dismissively.

"So did Colonel Sanders." RJ reminded him a little aggressively. "Just because I don't aggressively pursue the almighty dollar doesn't make me irresponsible. I'll take care of your daughter."

"Do you sleep together?" Michael asked. Lily spat her mouthful of wine back into the glass.

"Dad!" She shrieked.

"It's a simple question." Michael pressed on. "Are you sleeping with my daughter?"

"With all due respect, that really isn't any of your business." RJ answered as diplomatically as he could under the circumstances.

"Lily is my daughter; that makes it my business." Michael replied in a barely audible tone. His eyes locked with RJ's, never flinching. "Now answer the god damn question or I swear you'll find out what the business end of a steak knife feels like."

"Is there anything I can say that'll make you happy?" RJ asked.

"You're leaving my daughter and looking for someone your own age." Michael replied.

"Well since I'm not going to say that, I don't see any purpose in answering your question." RJ replied. "Like I said, it's none of your business."

"Here's the first course." Lily remarked as Charlie arrived, carrying their starters. Unfortunately the atmosphere didn't lighten any.

"Lily, you're 19." He stated. "You're too young to get tied down."

"Dad, I love RJ." She replied. "I can't imagine being with anyone else. I..."

"How much do you really know him?" He asked. "Do you even know his real name?"

"Yes I do, it was one of the first things he told me!" She snapped. "Dad, I love you, but you can't keep insulting RJ like this."

"Lily he isn't good enough for you." He replied. "You're so much better..."

"How the hell would you know?" She snarled, finally losing the last of her patience. "You've seen me maybe half a dozen times since I was 13!"

"Lily..."

"No RJ, this needs to be said!" She cut him off, rounding on her father. "You haven't given a damn about me for the last six years! You can't just waltz back into my life and start insulting my friends, judging my lifestyle and choosing who I'm allowed to have a relationship with!"

"Lily, my work is important." He told her. "Just because I wasn't here doesn't mean I don't love you."

"You're a god damned quarter master!" Lily roared. "I'm sure the general would survive without fresh staples for a few days!"

"Lily, be reasonable..."

"Like you are?" She shrieked. "Dad, I love RJ and I want to marry him. You can either learn to live with that or get to hell out of my life!"

"You've done this!" Michael snarled, pointing at RJ. "My Lily would never have spoken back to me like that!"

"You did this to yourself dad!" Lily replied, tears rolling down her face. "The marines always meant more to you than I ever did. You packed me off to boarding school so I wouldn't hold you back!"

"Lily, everything I've ever done is because I love you." Michael replied.

"Then why couldn't you spend some time with me? For your information, RJ was the one that wanted me to straighten things out with you!" She yelled. "Dad, I love you, but if you can't support me in this, then you can go to hell!"

With that, Lily sprinted from the restaurant in tears, her heart totally broken by her father's lack of understanding. Michael got up to follow, but RJ stood in his path.

"I think you've done enough." He replied sharply. By now Michael had had enough and threw a punch at RJ. The wolf master caught the punch, twisting his wrist and shoving him backwards through the table. Charlie came over to see what the fuss was all about.

"Because I love Lily I've put up with you insulting me and demeaning my lifestyle." RJ told him as Michael looked up at him from the floor. "I could even tolerate you hitting Casey to warn me off, but I care about Lily a great deal and you've hurt her. I can't tolerate that."

He turned to Charlie giving him some money.

"That should cover the damages." He told his former employer. "Sorry about the mess."

Michael watched him go as his tears began. He only wanted what was best for Lily. Now he was sure he had lost her for good.


	4. The Dust Settles

Fran had just seen off the last of the lunch rush customers when Lily ran into the restaurant, tears streaming down her face and sobbing loudly. She threw herself into a booth and continued to weep.

"He's an asshole!" She roared, grabbing some napkins. "I hate him!"

Fran waved Camille off, coming over to Lily's side and holding her warmly. She could see that her meeting with her dad hadn't gone well and that she was badly upset.

"You don't hate him." Fran replied, stroking Lily's back tenderly as she let her friend cry on her shoulder. "If you hated him whatever he did wouldn't hurt this much"

"Fran he doesn't give a crap about me!" She wailed, pulling in more tightly. "He never has, why does he have to come home now and try to ruin my life?"

"Lily, I seriously doubt he doesn't care." Fran told her comfortingly. "He came home to see you. He wanted to make sure RJ was going to look after you..."

"He abandoned me after mom died!" Lily whimpered. "He dumped me in a boarding school he'd never even heard of just to get rid of me when I was 13!"

"Lily, you should maybe hear his side of the story." Fran suggested.

"You don't know what it's like Fran!" Lily snapped. "He ditched me and ran halfway across the globe to get away from me..."

"Yeah, I don't know what it's like!" Fran yelled back. "My dad just used to beat the crap out of me and blame me for everything that went wrong in his life up until he shot through and drank himself to death!"

"Fran, I'm sorry!" Lily gasped, realising her mistake. "I didn't mean..."

"I would have loved my dad to breathe down a boyfriend's neck!" She continued. "Hell I'd have loved it if mom cared enough to give a crap who I was hanging around with."

"Fran, I..."

"Your dad flew half way around the world to see you when he found out about this." Fran reminded her. "My dad was found in a gutter three streets away from my house and hadn't seen fit to come and see us. You should count yourself lucky."

Lily shrunk into the seats a little, battered down by Fran's tirade. Thinking about it, she really didn't have things as bad as she thought, and Fran had a hell of a lot more to bitch about than she did.

"Lily, I don't want to hurt you, but maybe there's a reason your dad did what he did." She suggested.

"Well I can't think of one." Lily grumbled. "I lost my mom, and then he decided he couldn't be bothered taking care of me. Sometimes I wonder why he even had a kid."

Before Fran could say anything else, Lily fled into the apartment in her anguish. Fran watched her go, unable to comprehend what could have hurt her so much. RJ arrived shortly afterwards.

"Where's Lily?" He asked.

"She's upstairs." Fran replied, pointing to the door. RJ just nodded in a wordless thank you and went upstairs to comfort his fiancée. Fran watched as Michael arrived next. He came over to her, his cheeks bearing the unmistakable red streaks left by tears.

"I'm going." He told her. "Could you get my kit bag out of my room?"

"Look, I'm sure Lily will come around. She's a really forgiving person." Fran began. "You shouldn't give up on her..."

"I've lost her." He interrupted her. "Please, just get me my things."

Fran just nodded and went upstairs. She went past RJ and Lily, huddled on the couch and into Dom's room, picking up his kit bag. She went back down to the restaurant, finding Michael sitting in a booth, crying and looking at a photograph.

"I didn't know Lily dyed her hair." Fran stated, noting the brown-haired woman in the picture.

"She didn't." Michael replied. "Or at least, not as far as I know. That was her mother, Lisa."

"She was beautiful." Fran responded. "What happened?"

"One Christmas, someone decided that the drink-drive laws didn't apply to him." He replied. "He slammed into Lisa's car. She died in hospital not long afterwards."

"I'm really sorry to hear that." Fran told him. "You obviously loved her very much."

"She was everything to me." Michael told her. "When she died I didn't think I could cope. It was all too much. The only thing I ever knew was the corp. It was the only thing I could do, so I put Lily into boarding school. I knew I couldn't take care of her myself."

"Why did you leave her behind?" Fran asked. "I'm sure the military..."

"I wouldn't have been able take care of her." He replied. "I'd have ended up sticking her with babysitters all the time. At least at boarding school she'd have some kind of stability."

"For what it's worth, I had a pretty crappy dad." Fran told him. "He used to get drunk and hit me and mom. I'd have loved to have my dad care about me this much."

"Look, you don't have to comfort me. RJ won. I'm going." Michael told her. "I know Lily doesn't need me in her life."

"She doesn't need you." Fran concurred. "But she wants you in her life. That's why she contacted you."

"She has RJ now." Michael sighed, reaching into his kit bag. He pulled out a rosewood box and handed it to Fran. "Please, give this to her."

"But..."

"Fran, just please give this to her." He reiterated. "Maybe one day she'll understand."

With that, he picked up his bag and prepared to leave.

"She's lucky to have good friends around her." He commented. "I know my little girl will be alright."

With that, he turned and left, preparing to head back to the airport and wait on a flight. Fran couldn't resist taking a look inside the rosewood box. What she found almost put her on her ass.

"Oh god!" She gasped in her shock.

Lily and RJ were sitting in the loft holding each other when Fran came upstairs. She crossed the room, looking to them.

"Lily, your dad just left." She told her friend. "He's going back to the barracks."

"Good!" She snapped. "Maybe he'll just stay there!"

"Lily, you don't mean that." Fran answered. "You love him."

"I do Fran; he left me behind when mom died!" Lily snapped in response. "I needed him and he left me!"

"Don't you think he might have been hurting too?" RJ asked her. "He did just lose his wife. I know I'd be in bits if I lost you."

"He's my dad!" She wailed as her tears overcame her, pouring down her face. "He was meant to take care of me, he was meant to be there for me but he just dumped me like a piece of crap!"

"Lily, that's not true and you know it." RJ responded. "If he didn't care about you he wouldn't have given me such a hard time."

"He cares more about being a bloody desk jockey for the Marines than he does about me!" Lily spat in her anger. Fran threw the rosewood box down on the table.

"Your dad left that for you." Fran told Lily. "Maybe you should look at it."

Lily opened the box, beholding the contents in shock. She pulled out a medal. It was an upside-down five-pointed star made of bronze on a pale blue ribbon.

"They don't give the Congressional Medal of Honour to desk clerks." Fran told her.

"He always said he managed the stores." Lily gasped as she ran her fingers over the medal.

"He probably wasn't allowed to tell you what he was doing." Fran put down with authority. "Maybe that's why he hasn't been in contact as often as you'd like."

"I sent him away!" She whimpered, barely capable of speaking. "He..."

"Lily I have no idea what he's done." Fran replied. "All I'm saying is maybe there's a reason he hasn't told you why he's away so much."

"I've barely seen him since I was 13." Lily whispered. "No, it's not possible, he, 45! He can't..."

"Casey can testify to the fact he isn't exactly an invalid." RJ responded. "I can drive you to the airport."

"Why should I chase after him?" Lily screeched in response. "He's the one in the wrong."

"Well you better make your mind up quickly." RJ responded. "Because in a few minutes you won't have a choice in the matter."

Lily sank into the sofa and sighed deeply. It hurt so much to think about everything she had lost with him.

"RJ, get the car." She responded.

Michael sat in the departure lounge awaiting his flight, drinking beer. He wasn't normally much of a drinker, but considering the fact his daughter had just disowned him, he was making an exception. His attention was grabbed as a few dollar bills landed on the bar.

"I'll pay for the next one." Lily told the barman.

"Lily, I thought you hated me." Michael breathed, surprised by her appearance.

"I could never hate you." She murmured, sitting next to him. "Dad, I love you but you have to realise I'm an adult now."

"I always think of you as my little girl." He responded. "I can't believe how much you've grown."

"Dad, why did you leave?" She asked. Michael finished his beer and gestured for another. The barman gave him another bottle.

"I didn't know how to deal with everything." He replied. "I thought I was doing what was best."

"I only wanted you to spend time with me." She told him. "I lost mom, and then you sent me away. It felt like I'd lost you too."

"Lily, I knew I couldn't take care of you on the barracks." He replied.

Lily put the rosewood box on the bar, exposing the impressive collection of medals.

"You're not just a desk clerk, are you?" She asked.

"I can't say." He replied. "Even if I wasn't bound by national security, I wouldn't tell you what I've done. I would never want anyone to know about the things I've seen."

"Dad, I thought you ditched me for an office job." She told him.

"You look just like her." He replied. "Sometimes it was painful just to look at you. If you had brown hair I'd be looking at her right now."

"I remember mom." Lily told him. "She used to sing beautifully."

"She did." Michael concurred. "When she died my whole world fell apart. The only thing I knew I could hold onto was the corp."

"I needed you." Lily told him. "It hurt so much that you left me behind."

"Lily, it took everything I had just to go on living." He responded. "It was too much for me."

"Dad, I can't imagine what you've been through." Lily stated.

"I've lost so much because of this." He sighed. "I've served my country faithfully for all this time, and I don't think I was wrong. I just hate the fact that I lost you in the process."

"You haven't lost me." Lily replied.

Michael looked at her, smiling as he cupped her chin with his hand, wiping away a tear with his thumb.

"It feels like it." He told her. "The day you were born everything changed. You were the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen."

Lily put her arm around him, pulling him in closer. "Dad, I've grown up, I'm a woman now."

"To me you'll always be my little girl." Michael replied. "This RJ's a strange guy."

"He is." Lily admitted. "He takes some getting used to."

"So he really wanted you to straighten things out with me?" He asked.

"He insisted on it." Lily told him. "He's had issues with his own dad; he knows what it's like to be at odds with family."

"So what's he like?" Michael asked. "I imagine his dad has to be pretty interesting to raise RJ."

"He's...unique." Lily conceded, thinking about Master Finn. "I think you'd like him."

"Look, I can't pretend to be happy about all of this." He began. "It feels like I'm losing my little girl."

"You'll never lose me." Lily replied. "You're gaining a son."

"Well the way he stood up to me, I know he'll take care of you." He responded.

"Could you stay another couple of days?" Lily asked him.

"I'd be glad to." He replied. "So are you sure he doesn't smoke weed?"

"Dad!" She chuckled, shoving him gently.

Later in the evening, they arrived back at JKP, to find a woman waiting outside with a young baby in a stroller and a toddler by her side. She had jet black hair, and seemed to be a few years older than Lily. She was around 5' 4" and had a slender build. She wore tight blue jeans and a green blouse.

"Michael, where have you been?" She asked. She looked at Lily and seemed to recognise her. "You must be Lily, I've heard so much about you! Your father talked about you all the time."

"Megan." Michael addressed the stranger. "I've been busy and..."

"Dad, who is this?" Lily asked. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"You haven't told her?" Megan asked incredulously. "I'm sorry Lily, this is so embarrassing. I never wanted to meet you this way..."

"Megan, I'm sorry, I was so busy worrying about Lily's engagement I didn't..."

"Mention us?" Megan asked. "I swear if I didn't love you so much I wouldn't have stayed with you."

"I must have missed something." Lily interjected, reminding Michael and Megan of her presence. "Who are you again?"

"Lily, this is Megan. The boy is her son Jack, and the baby is our little girl Stephanie."

"Your little girl?" Lily quizzed clearly a little hurt and confused. This wasn't the best way for the news to be broken, but Lily wasn't the only one whose life had moved on in the last couple of years.

"Yes, Stephanie is my daughter." He answered. "Megan is my wife."


	5. Michael Explains

RJ made his way out onto the balcony, finding Lily looking out over the night sky. She hadn't said a word since her father had dropped the bombshell about Megan and the kids. Tears ran down her face as she struggled to take in the new information she'd received, obviously it was a shock t her to find out about them.

"Lily, talk to me." RJ implored the woman he loved. Lily looked to her engagement ring.

"I can't believe how much things have changed." She mumbled as RJ put his arm around her. "I haven't seen him in so long. I feel like I don't even know him anymore."

"Lily, you know he'd never do anything to hurt you deliberately." RJ assured her.

"He's such a hypocrite RJ!" She complained as he pulled her in closely. "He gets up in our faces about getting engaged, and he's gone and started a whole new family without so much as a word."

"Lily I can't imagine what you're thinking right now." RJ said comfortingly, holding her head to his shoulder as she cried, stroking her hair.

"RJ, I don't know what to do." She replied. "I know I should give them a chance, but there's a part of me that's just so angry."

"I can understand your anger." RJ told her. "You're hurt and confused. It's only natural."

"RJ I don't know anything about him anymore." She protested. "It feels like nothing I had with him matters anymore. It feels like mom died, and he ditched me, and now he's replaced us."

"Lily, your dad loves you." RJ reminded her. "He wouldn't have come out here if he didn't."

"But what about Megan and the kids?" She whispered weakly. "He never said anything about them. It's like...It's like he's got this new family and I didn't even matter enough to know about it."

"Well he does have other people to worry about now." RJ conceded.

"I don't blame him for moving on." Lily told him. "I suppose a part of me always knew he would at some point. Mom wouldn't have wanted him to be alone. It just…it just feels like he's got this new family now and he never even let me know they existed."

"And you feel left out." RJ surmised. Lily nodded her head morosely.

"It feels like I don't belong anymore." Lily stated, wiping tears from her eyes. "It feels like he got his new family and I've not got a place in it."

"Lily, they're waiting inside." He told her. "Your dad wants to tell you his side of the story. Maybe you should hear him out."

"Why the hell should I?" She sighed deeply. "It wasn't as if he had any intentions of hearing us out about the engagement."

"Lily, two wrongs don't make a right. You know that." RJ remarked. "You already know things are more complicated than your dad let you believe. Maybe there's a reasonable explanation."

Lily didn't look too convinced, but conceded that at least she should hear him out. If nothing else, Megan had done nothing to her; she had only married a man she loved. It wasn't her fault that her dad hadn't seen fit to mention starting a whole new family. Putting an arm around RJ for comfort, she went back inside with him to face her new relatives.

The others had left the room at RJ's request, leaving Michael, Megan, Jack and Samantha in the backroom. Jack was curled up on the sofa sleeping, while Samantha was nestled comfortably in Megan's arms. Their long journey and the late hour had finally taken their toll on the youngsters. Hours seemed to pass without anything being said. Lily and Michael had a lot to talk about, but she just sat, staring in disbelief at Megan and Samantha.

"Lily, please say something." Michael begged her. "I know this is a shock but..."

"Dad, I haven't seen you in almost two years." Lily murmured, struggling to find the words for what she had to say. There were a million questions all racing around in her head. "Now you just turn up and tell me that I have a step-mom, step-brother and a half sister I didn't even know about."

"Lily, let me try and explain." He began. "It's kind of complicated..."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Lily asked him.

"Like I said, it's kind of complicated." He continued. "It started when a new guy came into my unit. His name was Jeremy."

"Jeremy was my first husband." Megan explained, smiling at her son. "He was Jack's father."

"He was one of the bravest young men I ever met." Michael told her. "He reminded me a lot of myself when I was young, so I took him under my wing and helped him train. We became good friends. He was so excited when Jack was born; it reminded me of the day you were born. I saw so much of myself in him I couldn't believe it."

"So what happened to him?" Lily asked.

"I can't go into details, but he was killed in the field." Michael told her. "I was injured and he came back for me. Unfortunately he got hit. It didn't take a surgeon to see he wouldn't make it, there was blood everywhere. I still can't bear to think about that day. He made me promise I'd look after his family before he died. He hung on just long enough for me to agree. He died in my arms on the way back to barracks."

"When Jeremy died, I thought I'd lost everything." Megan interjected. "I was a civilian, I wasn't signed up, and so I was no longer entitled to live on the barracks after he died. Without Jeremy to provide for us and no home to go to, I didn't know what we were going to do."

"I had made a promise to Jeremy, I couldn't let him down, and so I did what I had to. To ensure Megan and Jack could stay on the barracks where they'd have a home and I could provide for them." He explained. "I asked her to marry me. I knew that as my wife she'd be entitled to on-site accommodation."

"It was a marriage of convenience?" Lily asked.

"It started out that way." Megan informed her, cradling their daughter. "Over time we grew to love each other. Eventually it became so much more than that. Eventually, we found out I was expecting Stephanie, we were both so happy."

"I can't believe you got married and never told me." Lily sighed. "What about mom?"

"Lily, she would never have wanted me to mourn her forever." Michael assured her. "When she died, I thought I'd never feel that kind of love again. I still love her, I always will. What I have with Megan is different."

"So how long has this been going on?" She asked him.

"We got married a year and a half ago." He told her. "Samantha was born six months ago."

"And in all that time you never thought to tell me?" She asked a little incredulously. "Did you ever intend to tell me?"

"Lily, you know how rarely I get the chance to contact you." He reminded her. "I never even knew about your accident until a couple of months after it happened..."

"So what about the card you sent me?" She asked.

"The base commander sent that because I was out on manoeuvres." He replied. "I only received the letter when I got back. If I'd known about it, I'd have come home to take care of you, but you had already recovered by the time I knew about it."

"I thought you didn't care." She admitted.

"Lily, I know this isn't the ideal way to have told you, but there really wasn't a good way to tell you." He continued. "It wasn't as if I could just tell you in a letter. I was still needed back at the base, so I couldn't just take time off to come and see you. I couldn't just quit, I'm still signed up for another two years, I couldn't just leave."

"Lily, I know this has all come out of the blue, but I think you should know that I love your dad very much." Megan told her. "I know I can never replace Lisa. I'd never even want to try, it's not my place, and I know it isn't."

"I don't need a new mom." Lily whispered.

"Well, like I said, I have no intention of trying to be your mom." Megan assured her. "But I would like to get to know you better. I'd like to think that in time, maybe we could become friends."

Lily just sat quietly, assessing the new people in her father's life thoughtfully. Megan was only a few years older than her. It felt odd to think of Megan as her father's wife. She wasn't sure she could accept them together.

"I know this will take a while to get used to, but I'd really like us to try." Megan pressed on. "I'm sure Jack and Stephanie would love to get to know their big sister."

Michael came over to Lily's side, pulling out a tissue, and tried to wipe away some of her tears, but Lily pulled away from him. Her reaction hurt him, but wasn't really that surprising. He hadn't really expected her to be thrilled about the changes in his life, especially since it had all happened so suddenly without her getting a chance to get used to the idea. Instead her extended family had literally turned up on her doorstep without a word.

"Lily, please try to be happy for me." Her father begged her. "Megan really makes me happy. She's a part of my life now, but that doesn't mean I love you any less."

"I wish I could believe that." She muttered softly. "Dad, it feels like you're replacing me and mom. You never invited me to stay on barracks."

"Would you have wanted to live on the barracks?" He asked, placing a hand warmly on her cheek. Lily shook her head. She knew that she wouldn't have seen much more of him on site than she would have in Ocean Bluff, and without her mom at home, she'd ended up being raised by surrogate carers anyway. Besides, her life had turned out for the better as a result of her father's decision. If her dad hadn't left her behind, she'd never have gone to Pai Zhuq. She'd never have met her friends, and she'd never have met RJ. "Lily I could never replace you. You're so important to me. I love you. There are other people in my heart now too, but I've got enough room for you too."

"I really wish I could get over this." She whispered, pulling away from him. She looked him straight in the eyes, her bottom lip quivering slightly. "I don't know if I can ever forgive you for this."

"Michael, it's getting late." Megan told him, gesturing to the kids. "We can talk more in the morning, the kids are exhausted."

Michael looked at Lily sadly, before conceding that Megan was right. It was too raw right now; they probably weren't going to solve anything tonight. Reluctantly, he picked up Jack, being careful not to disturb him before coming back to Lily.

"Lily I..." Michael was cut off as she pulled away from him again without another word. It was obvious that she was hurt. With a look of regret on his face, he turned and left the apartment with his new family. RJ turned to Lily as they left.

"I know what you're going to say RJ." She snapped. "I've not been fair to him."

"Actually I was going to say you haven't been fair to Megan and the kids." He corrected her. "They haven't done anything wrong."

"I know that RJ." She replied. "I can't help feeling like this. It feels like mom never mattered to him. It feels like...like I never mattered to him."

"You know that isn't true." He replied. "Your dad would be the first one to admit that he's made mistakes."

"Mistakes?" She shrieked. "He started another family behind my back! No wonder he gave up on me so easily when I told him where to go. He already had a backup family waiting back on the barracks!"

"To be honest it didn't sound like that." RJ told her. "You don't know what happened out there. It sounds like things happened kind of quickly."

"It happened a year and a half ago!" She shrieked. "I always wanted a family, and now I find out that I've had one all this time and I never knew about it."

"Lily, it's not like it would have been any easier to hear over the phone or in a letter." He reminded her. "It's taken this long for your dad to be able to bring them home."

"Well I notice he still gets to keep them around." She grumbled. "As usual I'm the one that gets left behind. He always cared more about his job than he did about me, this just proves it."

"Lily, he's a Marine, it's not like he could just give up his job." He continued. "In the military if he tried to quit and leave before the end of his period of service, he'd have been charged with desertion."

"He's already served them for six years." She muttered softly. "It's not fair that he's been away so long. It's not fair that he can't come home."

"He knew the life he had chosen when he enlisted." RJ told her. "Sometimes life just doesn't work out the way we want it to."

"I wish he'd never come back!" She snapped. "I've lived this long without him, I don't need him!"

"Well you better be sure of that." RJ told her, sitting down in his chair.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked.

"He's still got two years to serve, and he's only on leave." He reminded her. "He'll probably have to ship out again soon."

Lily sat on RJ's lap and buried her face in her hands, sobbing gently. RJ cradled her warmly in his arms.

"I'll support you no matter what you decide." He explained. "But you better be sure you don't want him in your life, because if you don't make your mind up, the decision will be out of your hands in the next few days."

Meanwhile, in a hotel room, Megan woke up to find the other side of the bed empty. Getting up and moving through to the sitting area, she found Michael sitting alone in the dark, staring at a photo album. The picture showed a much happier time. It was taken at Lily's tenth birthday party.

He had been stationed in Europe at the time, and had blown a significant portion of his savings taking his family to Euro Disney. He could still remember the way Lily's face lit up when she arrived at the theme park. He had even booked a section of one of the restaurants for a birthday party for her. It was one of the few times he'd gotten to spend a significant amount of time with her, so he had cherished every moment of it. The single moment in the picture, the moment when Lily had thrown herself enthusiastically into his arms and hugged him tightly, beaming broadly had made every cent worth it.

"I didn't know you were in the habit of drinking alone." Megan commented, gesturing to the glass of scotch on the table.

"I thought it was a perfectly reasonable response." He replied. "She said she can't forgive me."

"She's had a terrible shock." Megan reminded him. "We've still got a couple of days left. I'm sure she'll come around."

"I'm really not sure this time." He replied. "She was so angry with me at lunch that she told me to stay out of her life."

"To be fair you had just told her that RJ wasn't good enough for her." She stated, putting her arms around him. "She came after you at the airport. She still loves you. It isn't in you to give up like this."

"She has RJ to look after her now." He sighed. "She hasn't needed me in a long time. I've made sure of that."

"She might not NEED you." Megan responded. "That doesn't mean she doesn't WANT you. This whole thing wouldn't have mattered to her so much if she didn't care."

With that, Michael pulled his wife into a long, deep hug, feeling the warmth in her that he had fallen in love with. He still didn't know if Lily would ever forgive him, but with Megan there for him, he would have the strength to keep trying.


	6. A Father's Love

The next morning, RJ woke up in his own bed, though found Lily was not there with him. He knew she hadn't had much of a restful night's sleep as a result of her conflicted feelings over her father's revelations. He made his way through to the main room, finding Lily in the kitchen with a large mug of hot chocolate.

"Is there enough for two?" He asked.

"There's still some in the pot." She told him, gesturing to the cooker. RJ poured himself a cup and joined his fiancée, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"You think I should go and see them?" She asked him weakly. It wasn't much of a question really, since she knew what RJ would say. Deep down she knew the answer to that herself, but she needed some kind of justification in her heart. It still hurt to think about the fact her dad had started another family without telling her. Her heart told her he didn't deserve to be forgiven, that his betrayal of her and her mother's memory was too great. But in her mind she already knew that as much as his actions had hurt her, she would only be hurting herself to let him go and lose him altogether.

"I think you already know the answer to that." RJ answered. "Lily, you know I'm here for you."

"That's all that's stopping me going completely insane." She told him, taking a sip. "I really want to straighten things out with him. I know I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if we never spoke again."

"You're too precious to me for me to let that happen." RJ told her. "Megan told me that she'd bring your dad around later. Until then, it'll be a while before the others are awake. Do you want to get a jump start on training?"

Lily nodded as she finished off her drink, placing it in the sink.

"Thanks RJ." She responded. "Without you, I'd probably have let him leave. I'd probably have ended up hating myself for it."

"Like I said before, the wolf always had s your back." He told her, kissing her softly. "Now, should we start off with some meditation?"

"I think that would be best." Lily sighed. "My head's spinning with all these thoughts, I could really do with straightening them out."

Meanwhile in the hotel, Megan came down to the gym, finding Michael thrashing through his usual 2000 laps of the pool. There were only a couple of other early risers in the gym, but he was already getting some admirers. Most of the patrons of the gym were considerably younger than him, but still marvelled at his impressive build and ferocious workout regime. Megan still always found amusement in the looks he used to draw from women any time he used a public gym. It was a great ego boost; after all, he came home to her. Michael pulled himself out of the pool and started getting dried as she came over to him.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" He asked his wife.

"No, you were quite considerate." She told him. "You left really quietly. I didn't even notice until I gave Stephanie her seven o'clock feed."

"Where are the kids?" He asked.

"They're in the breakfast room; the waitress said she'd keep an eye on them." She replied. "They'd love to see you."

Megan knew exactly where to find her husband when she'd woken to find him missing. He always went to the gym and punished himself for hours on end when he had a lot on his mind. She was confident he'd be there today. The fact that he was finishing his 2000 lap swim let her know he'd been there his usual three hours. Another thing she found funny, but also loved about him was the way he could always be relied on to run like clockwork.

"At least two of my kids do." He sighed, making his way towards the showers.

"Michael, I told RJ we'd be around this morning." She told him. "Please, just take your shower. Jack and Stephanie are waiting."

"Are you sure they'll still..."

"You take 10 minutes to shower and brush your hair, another 5 to get dressed." She told him. "Jack won't even have picked out his cereal by then."

Michael laughed. He didn't try to be so predictable, but years of living on the barracks had given him a certain drilled sense of order in his routines. She was right, you could set your watch by his training and hygiene rituals.

"Tell Jack I'll be there soon." He chuckled, kissing her cheek before heading towards the showers. "But don't let him eat anything frosted. We'll never get him to calm down."

Later in the morning, Lily and RJ were just coming back to full awareness from deep meditation as Fran and Theo arrived in the room.

"You two got up early." Theo commented. "Would you like us to make you something to eat?"

"I always find it easier to deal with things on a full stomach." Lily remarked. "Whatever you two are having will be fine."

"I'm in the mood for some sugar." RJ announced. "I'm heading out for some doughnuts." At that time however, their morphers bleeped, announcing another attack in the city.

"So much for the doughnut run," RJ complained with a childish pout, "Dai Shi better be ready for some pain."

"Getting between you and food?" Lily giggled, pulling on her tunic. "I almost feel sorry for him."

Having finished their breakfast and prepared the kids for their trip to the pizza parlour, Michael and Megan were making their way along the streets of Ocean Bluff, enjoying the warmth of the seasonal heat.

"What are those things?" Megan asked, pulling Stephanie out of the stroller into her arms protectively as dozens of Rinshi warriors tearing up the place, gathering fear for Dai Shi. Despite not knowing what they were, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that they were bad news.

"Come on Jack!" Michael Beckoned his stepson, pulling him into a hiding place behind a dumpster.

"Daddy, I'm scared." The youngster yelled as they took cover.

"I know you are." He replied. "Have I ever let anything happen to you?"

The toddler shook his head as he looked into Michael's face. He smiled at his stepson and hugged him tightly.

"I promise I'll keep you safe." He assured him. He looked around the edge of the dumpster, assessing the situation for a way to get his family out of danger, when he saw something he'd never have expected. Lily, RJ and the others rushed onto the scene, and appeared to be getting ready to fight these creatures.

"Ready guys?" Casey called out, reaching for his Solar Morpher. Theo caught his hand as he saw a movement over by the side-alley Michael and his family had taken refuge in.

"Casey, look." He beckoned him. Casey looked over, seeing Michael pull himself back in behind the dumpster.

"Lily, your dad's here." Casey informed her. "It looks like we have to do this the old fashioned way."

Lily looked over to where her dad was hiding with the kids. The Rinshi fell upon the Rangers ferociously as she tried to fight a way clear for them to run.

"Dad, get out of here!" She screamed, ploughing her way through them. Michael could hardly believe it was his little girl he was watching as she sent Rinshi flying this way and that. She fought with a strength he could never have imagined her having. She was amazing in her power. "Get the kids..."

Lily was interrupted as an explosion threw her into a nearby wall hard. Her head collided with the wall sickeningly, and she lay on the ground, hardly moving. She was still conscious, though not by much.

"Lily!" RJ roared, sprinting towards her, only to be stopped in his tracks by another explosion. Michael watched on as a warrior in black and gold armour arrived, approaching Lily menacingly. Looking around, he could see that the others were far too busy with their own foes, and no one was within reach of Lily.

"Megan, take care of the kids." He barked as he surged forward. Megan pulled them further into cover away from the action.

Lily felt a warm trickle running down the side of her face, and her vision was blurry, though she could see the dark figure of Dai Shi approaching her. She tried to get to her feet, but stumbled and fell back to her knees. She tried to call out, though her voice betrayed her.

"I guess this will be the last time we meet Yellow Ranger." He snarled. Lily tried to shield her face with her arm, but saw something coming her way. Her dad bellowed a savage cry as he charged through Rinshi warriors, smashing them into oblivion with a supernatural strength. A blazing crimson aura burned around his body, augmenting his strength. He grabbed Dai Shi and launched him almost twenty feet through the air, slamming him into a wall. The concrete cracked and splintered as he collided with it.

"Stay the hell away from my daughter!" He snarled, surging forward, and slamming several unnaturally powerful punches into his head and chest, driving him further into the rapidly enlarging crater in the wall before he could catch his breath. He finished by slamming both hands into his chest, driving Dai Shi straight through the wall into the building.

Dai Shi was about to get to his feet, when he was confronted by Michael, the look of rage on his face didn't let up for a second. By now, most of the others had seen what was happening and stared at him in disbelief.

"What the hell?" Casey breathed as he finished off a couple of Rinshi. "How did he...?"

"No-one touches my family and gets away with it!" Michael roared, casting forward his arms before Dai Shi could recover. A glowing crimson ape-like creature surged from him, rushing Dai Shi and driving him with great velocity through the opposite wall of the building.

"Dad?" Lily asked weakly, finally getting to her feet. "How did...?"

"I'll explain later." He told her. "In the meantime we have these guys to finish off."

"Well, we kind of have our own secret." Lily replied, putting her Solar Morpher on her face. "Guys, it's alright, let's do it."

"Jungle Beast, SPIRIT UNLEASHED!" They all called out together, morphing into Ranger form.

Michael beamed with pride as he watched his daughter and her friends take care of the remaining Rinshi. His legs suddenly became weak and buckled underneath him, causing him to fall to his knees, breathing heavily as he watched her. Sweat poured from him at an unnatural rate. He began deep breathing exercises he had been trained in to bring his condition around.

"I am getting way too old for this." He grumbled.

Dai Shi pulled himself from the rubble and stared at the old marine in shock as he powered down into his human form. He had been blindsided ferociously by this human. He knew all the Masters who had trained the Rangers. Masters Rilla, Guin, Lope and Mao were dead. He had met and known Swoop, Phant and Finn at Pai Zhuq, and RJ was also here. He was far too old to be a Pai Zhuq student, and he was sure someone would have mentioned him before.

He pulled himself painfully back to his feet, and clutched his ribs. He wasn't badly injured, but taking on the combined might of the Rangers in his current state would only be foolish. Instead he conceded that today was not his and disappeared.

Finishing off the last of the Rinshi, Lily powered down and ran to Michael's side, helping him to his feet.

"I can't believe my little girl's a Power Ranger." He wheezed, his breathing still a little strained as he supported his weight on her. Dominic came over to his other side, helping her with his weight.

"How are Megan and the kids?" He asked as the others arrived.

"I cleared a path for them and told them to get to safety." Theo told him. "They were going in the direction of Jungle Karma."

"Did I just miss something?" Casey asked as he saw Lily struggling with her father and replaced her. RJ came over to her for support, clearly her own head injury was a little worse than she thought. "Did he just use an animal spirit?"

"How do you know about animal spirits?" Michael asked weakly.

"How do you?" Casey asked.

"I think this isn't the best time or place to discuss it." RJ told them. "Casey, Dom, help him back to the restaurant."

A short time later, they all stumbled into the back room, whereupon a frantic Megan rushed to their aid. Michael's condition had steadily worsened, and he was all but being dragged by Casey and Dom, barely conscious.

"I don't know what happened!" Lily shrieked as they lay him on the couch. RJ brought her a chair so that she could sit near him as he began tending to her own injury. "He just suddenly…"

"Michael, you know what heavy use of your animal spirit does to you." She ranted as she began checking over him. "You were told to rest and avoid using it while you were on leave."

"I didn't have a choice." He moaned, his voice by now was so weak it could barely be heard over his breathing. "Lily…"

With that, he finally lost consciousness, collapsing into the couch, totally unresponsive.

"You know what's happening to him?" RJ asked.

"I suppose you all saw what he can do." She sighed. "Camille, would you mind taking the kids into the other room?"

Camille took the two children into her room as Megan prepared to explain.

"What I'm about to tell you is classified top secret under national security, you can't tell anyone do you understand?" She started. The others nodded. "You already know that Michael isn't a quartermaster don't you?"

"We saw his Congressional." Lily told her as she looked at her father with a worried look on her face. "What does that have to do with his animal spirit?"

"I only know about this because I occasionally have to take care of him." She continued. "The government found out there are some people who have a tremendous amount of power inside them, which manifest in the form of animals, so they called them animal spirits."

"How could they…?" Casey was interrupted by a nudge from RJ.

"So far they've only found six people who have such abilities." She continued, failing to notice this. "One of them was my first husband Jeremy. The government recruited them into a special-forces division of the Marines to take part in highly dangerous missions."

"What happened to dad?" Lily asked, her voice quivering a little. She was terrified by how he had reacted to the use of his animal spirit. She was afraid for his health, and felt guilty that he seemed to have suffered because he was trying to protect her. "Why is he…?"

"Although a person's animal spirit provides them with tremendous power, that doesn't come without a cost." She explained. "Use of the animal spirit drains a person and weakens them. Prolonged or extensive use can even be life threatening."

Lily leant over her father protectively, giving his unconscious frame a tender hug. He had literally put his life on the line for her.

"Normally use is restricted to missions and training only." Megan explained. "Even then use is rationed into safe limits for health reasons. Michael came back from the field not long before he came home to see you. He was instructed not to use it while he was on leave to recover."

"He risked his life to save me." Lily whispered gently, a few tears falling onto his t-shirt as she continued to cling to him. RJ pulled her aside into a warm hug. A curt nod informed the others that he wanted to talk to them in private.

"RJ, how can he use his animal spirit?" Casey asked. "He didn't train with Pai Zhuq."

"And why did he pass out like that?" Theo chipped in.

"What's happened to him?" Lily whimpered. "Will he be alright?"

RJ looked into her eyes sadly, before huddling the others around him.

"Casey, you remember you called your animal spirit into that roar in your fight with Jarrod before you began training?" RJ asked him.

"Yeah." He recalled. "But I already knew..."

"There does exist what Pai Zhuq called the 'uninitiated'." He continued. "Most people are so out of tune with their animal spirits that without training they aren't even aware of its presence. Most people go their whole lives without even knowing they have it."

"Kind of like the rest of us." Theo surmised. "We had to be trained in meditation techniques."

"Anyway it's rare, but some of the uninitiated are so in tune with their animal spirits that they can summon them and their power." He continued. "Some estimated the uninitiated to be rarer than a hundredth of a percent of the population. Those who can summon their animal spirits are rarer still. It looks like Lily's dad is one of them."

"And the government has got wind of this and recruited some of them." Theo concluded. "Just as well they never found out about Pai Zhuq."

"But, we use our animal spirits all the time." Lily sobbed, lifting her head from his chest and looking into his eyes. "Even Fran doesn't get wiped out like this, and she only started training a few months ago."

"Fran's been trained properly." RJ told her. "The reason Pai Zhuq teaches deep meditation is to unify the animal spirit and the host. Without it, it drains on the host's life force."

"When I called my tiger into that roar, I was totally spaced." Casey recalled. "I felt like someone had rung my bell pretty good."

"That was just a roar." RJ replied. "Imagine what you would have felt like it you'd actually called the tiger."

"He'll be alright though won't he?" Lily asked hopefully. RJ sighed and looked into her eyes. He knew what he had to say next was not going to be easy to hear.

"Lily, he's in good health and has used it for a long time, so he's got a chance." He began. "But he called on a lot of energy to bushwhack Dai Shi, almost the full extent of the power of his mandrill spirit."

Lily looked to her dad slumped lifelessly on the couch as Megan checked over him. She was barely able to breathe as she thought of the possible consequences.

"Lily, your dad's a fighter, but I can't lie to you." He told her. "It's possible he won't make it."

Lily let go of RJ and made her way over to her dad's side, falling to her knees by the couch. She took his hand softly.

"Dad, I'm sorry." She sniffed as her tears overtook her. "You've got to make it, please!"


	7. A Daughter's Care

Lily held an ice pack to the side of her head as she watched RJ and Megan tending to her father. She couldn't even feel the dull ache from the bruising on the side of her face where her head had hit solid concrete. She couldn't even feel the cold dampness of the icepack. All she could feel was concern for his health.

She couldn't believe he had an animal spirit he could manipulate, but more than that, she couldn't believe that despite knowing the risks, he had called on its power to confront Dai Shi.

She and the Rangers had fought him many times and knew how powerful an opponent he was, confronting him was like taking his life in his hands before he considered what the powers did to him physically. He had to know how much energy he was channelling, he had to be aware of what he was risking, and yet he had jumped Dai Shi without a second thought.

What hurt though, almost more than knowing she could be within hours of losing him, was her behaviour towards him. While her anger at his treatment of RJ was understandable, and her shock at hearing he had remarried was equally understandable, she had been so wrapped up in her own upset that she couldn't see others were hurting too.

Her last words to him the night before burned in her heart painfully. "I'm not sure I can ever forgive you for this." Those words were now far more painful than the injury she'd suffered in the battle with the Rinshi earlier. Her father was now inches some of her last words to him had been spoken in anger. She had been so close to resolving everything with him before finding out about Megan and the kids, and then she let her own hurt cause her to lash out at him. RJ came over to her, seeing her vacant expression and tapped her gently on the shoulder, causing her gaze to shift to him.

"Your dad's pulse and heart rate are stable, but they are weak." He told her. "The next few hours are going to be crucial."

"I can't believe he did that for me." She murmured. "He had to know the risks."

"You're his daughter." RJ reminded her. "He loves you; he probably did it without a second thought."

"All those years I thought he didn't care about me." She sighed, removing the ice pack. "I was so self-absorbed..."

"Lily, you were hurting." He interrupted her, hugging her warmly. "We all get a little short-sighted when we're hurt."

Lily got off her stool and headed over to her father's side once more, taking his hand. She turned to face Megan.

"I'm sorry I've been difficult." She said softly. "I haven't been fair to you."

"Lily, I understand." She responded. "I know it must have been a terrible shock. I knew about you before I got together with your dad. He used to talk about you all the time."

"Really?" Lily asked surveying him a little surprised to hear this.

"It used to make his day any time he got back to base from the field and he got a bunch of your letters." Megan told her. "He'd float around the place in a daze all day. He showed off your picture all the time."

She reached over to Lily and placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her eyes to shift to her hand. This was the first time Megan had touched her. Lily hadn't given her much reason to like her, she had ignored her and her kids and even done almost everything she could to hurt her husband, and yet Megan was able to reach down deep, past her own pain, to comfort the step-daughter she had only just met the night before.

Lily looked up into Megan's eyes, and could see the sincerity in her expression. She could see that clearly she loved her father dearly. There was no way to fake the worry in her face. Lily gestured for a hug and pulled her step-mother in, holding her warmly.

"I'm sorry I didn't give you a chance." Lily replied. "I'm sorry dad got like this because of me."

"He's a fighter." Megan assured her. "This is the worst I've seen him, but he's the toughest person I know, and he has so much to come back for. I know he won't give up."

"I just wish I hadn't given him such a hard time." Lily sighed. "I'd hate to think that he thought I hated him. I wish he didn't have to use his animal spirit like that, I should have been able to defend myself, if I'd used my spirit..."

"You have an animal spirit too?" Megan asked, suddenly realising what Lily had said. Lily realised to her horror that she had blurted that out in her despair. Wordlessly, she called forth her cheetah spirit to demonstrate before returning it to her.

"I don't understand." Megan gasped. "How do you even know about...?"

"My dad thought he sent me to boarding school." Lily explained. "It wasn't a typical school..."

Lily's mind drifted back to that day. Her father was dressed in his combat fatigues with his kit bag packed ready to go. Despite only being a week since his wife's funeral, he wanted to get back into a routine as quickly as possible for the sake of his daughter.

Lily sat on the bench beside him, carrying only a small pillowcase full of underwear as instructed. She wore a pair of jeans with holes in the knees, and a pale yellow t-shirt. She hadn't bothered with make-up, and hadn't done since the funeral. It always ended up being ruined by her tears anyway. She had a tattered old paperback book clutched tightly in her hand. Her mother had read to her from that book many times, and when she learned to read, she continued to enjoy it. It was the only possession she had that she gave a damn about, it was the only thing she had left of her mother's.

It was so unfair, she was only 13, her mother still had so much to teach her and had so much wisdom to impart, but she was cruelly ripped from her so early. Now her dad was ditching her in some boarding school or other out of convenience. He had told her some cock-and-bull story about wanting her to be taken care of and get back into a routine, but it still hurt. She had lost her mother, and now she was losing her dad. He reached across to touch her cheek, but she pulled away from him sharply, failing to notice the look of hurt on his face as she did this.

Michael didn't want to leave her; she was all he had left of his beloved Lisa. She already looked so much like his wife that it was sometimes painful to look at her, but she was all he had left. If he lost her, he'd have nothing to live for, everything would seem so pointless. He was interrupted as an elderly Asian looking man arrived, wearing a grey business suit, though given the uncomfortable way he stood in it and the fact it was a little ill-fitting showed he was not used to wearing it.

"You must be Lily." He began, reaching out a hand to the girl. Lily pulled her possessions in more tightly and turned her face from him. This was obviously the guy that was to take her to enrol her to the new school. The bench was just outside a massive, old fashioned building that they were sure had to be the school, it seemed odd that he insisted they meet him outside, but apparently it was some kind of tradition. He withdrew his hand at the gesture. "My name is Mao. At the school, I am referred to as Master Mao."

"I'm pleased to meet you." Michael responded, shaking Mao's hand. "This is my daughter."

"We'll take good care of your daughter sir." He assured Michael. The Marine turned back to his daughter, kneeling down next to her, trying to look into her eyes.

"Lily, take care of yourself." He implored her. "It won't be long until I see you again."

She looked up at him, tears running down her face, and her lower lip quivering nervously.

"Dad, please don't me leave me here." She begged him. "Please..."

"You know I have to go." He told her, picking up his kit bag. He gestured for a hug, but Lily turned her face from him. He had rejected her, so she would reject him. Michael ran a hand tenderly through her hair before getting into his rental car to head back to the airport.

"Come with me Lily." Mao implored her. "I'll take you to the school."

"But the school's just there." She remarked, flicking a thumb over her shoulder.

"No, this is just where we pick up new students." He told her. "Come with me, I promise you won't be disappointed."

Lily was sceptical, but there was something about Master Mao that made her want to trust him. He had a certain aura that lent credibility to what he had to say. Putting her book into her pillowcase, she followed him as they began the long walk to the temple.

Lily was more than a little tired as she and Mao arrived at the temple. It was completely unlike anything she'd ever seen. It clearly wasn't like any school she'd been to before. There were a few small buildings, surrounding a massive central temple. Other than that, it was large expanses of courtyards and forest. She saw students wearing strange clothing that looked to her like pyjamas performing exercises. Many of them even seemed to be practicing martial arts.

"You may have noticed this is not a typical school." Mao stated, causing Lily to jump in fright. She was so busy taking in her surroundings; she had forgotten he was there. "We are called the Pai Zhuq Temple."

"This is a kung fu temple?" Lily asked. Mao turned and smiled at her.

"Yes it is." He replied. "How did you know?"

"My dad is heavily into karate." She told him. "He watched martial arts films with me all the time."

"Well, we're nothing like you'll see in a Bruce Lee film." He chuckled. "I am not above pop culture references myself."

"Bruce Lee died years ago." She informed him.

"Oh, I guess I don't get out as often as I thought." He replied. "Anyway, we have tutors who will assist you in your studies. We take care of your formal education through correspondence courses. Here we train students in the ways of ancient martial arts to reach their full potential. We believe that the mind, body and spirit can be unified to create a stronger whole."

"Look, no disrespect, but I've been doing martial arts for a while." She informed him. "I'm just looking for..."

"Not like this." He interrupted her. "You will live and train here. You will bunk with the other initiates."

He led her to an area where there was only one student in the courtyard. He was a short, Asian looking kid about her age. He seemed to be trying to practice with tonfa, though the word 'trying' seemed to be the operative phrase. Any time he wasn't dropping them; he was braining himself and risking a concussion.

"Theo!" Mao called out. The young man picked up his discarded tonfa and ran over to him, bowing low.

"This is Lily; she will be beginning training here." He told the young man. "I'd like you to make her feel welcome. Show her around until she gets her bearings.

Before the young man could answer, Lily saw a movement out the corner of her eye. Her eyes opened wide and she shrieked in horror as a glowing black lion raced towards them. 

She and Theo threw themselves aside to avoid its charge, though Mao stood perfectly still, not flinching and held up a hand, stopping it. The Lion turned tail and fled into the bushes. Lily saw it race back to a tall, slightly older kid with long black hair. He did seem to be laughing until he saw Master Mao, at which he got a look of panic on his face and ran.

"I'm sorry about that Lily. Theo, show her to the initiate's dorms." He began. "I have to deal with one of my more troublesome students."

Master Mao then walked away in the direction of the bushes. Theo got up, dusting himself off like nothing had happened and offered her a hand. Lily continued to stare with wide-eyed panic as her heart raced.

"What the hell was that?" She screamed.

"The jerk in the bushes was Jarrod." Theo informed her. "He always gives the younger students a hard time."

"No, that...thing!" Lily clarified.

"Oh, that was Jarrod's animal spirit." He said matter-of-factly.

"Animal spirit?" Lily asked.

"You'll learn soon enough." He told her. "I've not even been allowed to try and summon mine yet. We'll both be taught."

"There's one of those things inside me?" She shrieked, holding her hands to her chest defensively.

"Everyone has, they just don't know it." Theo told her. "That's why we train. Master Mao will explain once he stops watching Jarrod doing punishment drills."

"When will that be?" Lily asked, gathering her belongings.

"Probably sometime around New Year." He replied. "I'm Theo by the way."

"Lily." She replied, shaking his hand as she followed him towards the dorms. She was no less confused than when she had entered the grounds, but she knew two things. She was scared, and she wanted her dad.

Back in the back room, Lily had finished explaining. Megan just looked at her with astonishment.

"So all those years your dad thought you were at a boarding school you were at Pai Zhuq." She summarised. "And they've existed and known of the existence of animal spirits for thousands of years."

"That's right." Lily replied, nodding sadly. "Calling the animal spirit takes a lot of mental preparation to bring the bearer into harmony with their animal spirit."

"So why can your dad do it?" Megan asked. "Why does it harm him like this?"

"Apparently it's rare, but there are some that are aware of their animal spirit and can call it without that training." She told her step-mother. "Unfortunately doing so without being in harmony with their animal spirit drains on their life force, that's why dad gets tired when he uses his mandrill, that's why he's so weak."

"How come the government never found out about this?" She asked. "There must be thousands..."

"Probably a few hundred trained students." Lily corrected her. "And only four remaining masters. The Pai Zhuq deliberately maintained secrecy to ensure that only those who could be relied upon to use their spirits for good would be trained."

"What about this Dai Shi?" Megan asked. "What about him and his followers?"

"Dai Shi is a spirit who possesses a powerful form to exist. Currently he's possessing Jarrod." She explained. "He's in league with other evil spirits known as Phantom Beasts. The Pai Zhuq have been training defenders to protect the world from them for thousands of years. My friends and I are the current defenders. We are the Power Rangers."

"So that's why you were fighting those things." Megan concluded. "And you didn't change..."

"Because dad was there." Lily interrupted her. "We wanted to keep our identities secret. But now I know this about dad, it just wouldn't be right not to tell you."

RJ came over to her father, checking his vitals again.

"RJ, I've told her who we are." Lily informed him. "Is there something you can do?"

RJ could understand why Lily had told Megan. She was worried about her father, and she already knew he'd understand about animal spirits.

"I'll try what I can." He told her. "Dom, can you help me get him into my room?"

"Can't he stay here?" Megan asked.

"I'll let you care for him." RJ assured her. "But we can't keep your kids in Casey's room all day, and it's probably best Jack doesn't see him like this."

Dom helped RJ lift her father from his couch and lifted him through as Megan and Lily watched.

"RJ's a great healer." Lily assured her. "He's a Pai Zhuq master, he knows so much about animal spirits. If anyone can help dad he can."

"I really hope so." Megan replied. "I've already lost one husband; I couldn't bear to lose another."

Lily looked thoughtfully at the kids as Casey and Camille were told they could come back into the main room.

"Maybe it's time you introduced me to the family." Lily suggested. Megan looked to her, smiling. She knew how much courage it must have taken for her to ask. She gestured Jack over first.

"This is my son Jack." She introduced the toddler. "Jack, this is your sister Lily."

"Mommy told me I had a new sister." He said as Lily hugged him.

"Well I'm glad to meet you." Lily told him. "I'm sure I'd love to get to know you."

"And this is your little sister Stephanie." She continued as Casey handed her the baby. "Would you like to hold her?"

"Are you sure?" Lily asked. "I've never..."

"I'm sure you won't hurt her." Megan stated. "Besides, it'll be good practice."

Lily carefully took the child in her arms, cradling her as she had been shown, looking down into her face with a huge smile.

"She's beautiful." Lily complimented her, smiling at her broadly. "She looks like you."

"She has her daddy's eyes though." Megan informed her. "I think she likes you."

"Oh. I think she just gave her big sister a present." Lily remarked, sniffing the air. "I'll help you change her."

"Are you sure?" Megan asked. "She might be small, but you have no idea how much that little body can hold."

"I'm sure, she's family." Lily remarked. "Besides, like you said, it'll be good practice."

With that, they made their way over to the table with the changing bag. It hadn't been easy, but Lily could now see the similarities between them all. It wasn't easy for Megan to accept a daughter-in-law that was so close to her own age, especially one who had given her such a hard time, but they were all in this together. All of them were there for Michael. They truly were family.


	8. Recovery

Michael got back into the home he had been granted at the barracks, throwing his rucksack onto the floor just inside the front door, reaching to the stack of mail that had been left on his doorstep. Having been off-site behind enemy lines for six months, the pile was quite large. A huge smile came to his lips as he sat on the edge of the bed, looking out the one with the earliest date and opened it. Only one person wrote to him, and he was always glad to hear from her.

"You know you should pack away your kit first." Jeremy chuckled as he arrived at his house next door. "Some of your socks will be evolving into a new life-form by now."

"I don't care." He replied, holding up the stack of letters. "I get to read my mail from Lily."

"You know you're probably the only guy I know who gets that excited about his mail when it isn't his girlfriend writing." Jeremy remarked as his wife, Megan joined him on the path.

"How is she?" Megan asked.

"She says she hates school." Michael sighed. "She says I should quit the forces and come and collect her or she'll run away."

"Well since you have other letters there you know she didn't carry that threat out." Megan assured him.

"She says that the teachers are really strict and one of the other kids is a real jerk." Michael told her. "I wish I didn't have to wait six months at a time to hear from her. I'm sure by the time I reach the last letter in this pile she'll probably love school and have a boyfriend for me to hate."

"Probably the guy she thought was a jerk." Megan chuckled. She came over to her friend, touching his shoulder gently. She knew how much it hurt him to leave Lily and how much he missed her. He talked about her often. She and Jeremy swore that even if they hadn't seen all of the pictures she sent him, they could have picked her out of a line-up despite never having met her. Michael had described her inch-for-inch several times.

"Michael, we all miss out on things." Jeremy said sympathetically to his superior. "If you remember rightly, I went out on our last mission when Megan was pregnant and came back to a screaming poo machine."

"I suppose you're right." Michael responded. He knew this was just a part of his job, but it didn't make it any easier that his daughter was usually thousands of miles away. "How is Jack by the way?"

"He's getting big." Megan responded. "And he's looking forward to seeing his daddy."

"I think that's a hint." Jeremy stated. "I'll crank up the barbecue later, fancy coming around?"

"I get the offer of burgers after six months of c-rations?" Michael chirped cheerfully. "What do you think? Of course I'll be there."

"I'll just stick some beer on..."

"It's already on ice." Megan told them. "And I've got a fresh propane tank."

"I knew there was a reason I married you." Jeremy said cheerfully, throwing his wife over his shoulder. Megan shrieked and laughed cheerfully as he grabbed his kit bag and carried her inside. "See you soon."

Michael headed inside and closed the door, making his way to the couch and opening the second letter. This one had a photo, so he put the letter aside and looked at the picture fondly, running his fingers across it with a little regret. Even in the year since he had left her at the boarding school she had grown considerably. She seemed to have her arm around a small, Asian looking kid. He knew he'd probably hear about him in the letter, but he was glad she had a friend. The smiles on their faces showed that at least she seemed to be on good terms with this guy, and anyone making being so far away from him easier was a good thing.

He felt a few tears starting to form and put the photo aside, wiping his eyes with his palms, before looking to the picture of his beloved wife on the wall.

"I'm doing the right thing aren't I Lisa?" He asked the picture, hoping for some kind of confirmation. Unfortunately the picture didn't provide that comfort. It never had, no matter how many times he asked.

Back in the apartment, Megan noticed Michael's eyelids twitching slightly and his fingers flexing.

"Is he waking up?" She asked hopefully.

"I wish I could tell you different, but no." He responded. "He's in REM."

"You mean he's dreaming?" Megan asked. RJ nodded.

"He's thinking about something." He told her. "All we can do now is wait and hope."

Lily and Megan came to his side, willing him to come round. Michael was going to have to do this alone. They both worried as a few whimpers escaped his lips. Whatever he was thinking about, it wasn't pleasant.

Megan was happily putting beers on ice in preparation for Jeremy's return as Jack played with his toys. She was interrupted as the knock came on the door. She smiled as she heard this, knowing he had come home and a little early by the sounds of it. She made her way to the door, but was startled to find Michael there.

Michael's leg was broken in four places, and he had only just come out of the medic's office. He knew he should be resting, but there was something more important right now. He was Jeremy and Megan's best friend, and so it seemed only right to him that he be the one to break the news. He couldn't just leave it to the commanding officer. Despite the pain in his leg and the exhaustion of using crutches so soon after coming back from the mission, this was more painful. He didn't need to say anything; the tears in his eyes already informed Megan what he was there to say.

"We came under heavy fire." He began weakly. He handed her Jeremy's dog tags as her own tears started to fall. Dropping one of his crutches, he gestured her in for a one-armed hug and held her closely. Megan buried her face in his chest and wept for her husband. She had only been married for three years, and now she was already a widow. Michael held her tightly.

"I'll take care of everything." He assured her, his voice cracking as he thought about his fallen friend. "I promise I'll take care of everything."

Back in the apartment, it was beginning to get late. Neither Lily nor Megan wanted to leave Michael's side, so they hadn't gone for dinner when it was served. RJ brought them in a pizza.

"Thank you." Megan whispered, accepting the dish. "Michael always loved pizza. Pepperoni's his favourite."

"I'll gladly make him one when he comes round." RJ assured her. "Until then, eat up. Making yourselves ill isn't going to help matters."

"I just feel so helpless." Lily muttered. "I wish there was something I could do."

"You're doing the most valuable thing you can." RJ assured her. "Being here is the best medicine he could be getting."

Michael's lips twitched slightly into a smile.

"He's thinking about something." Megan told them. "He likes it. I hope it helps bring him back."

"Anything that gives him strength is sure to help." RJ told them.

In his mind, Michael revisited that glorious day. He rushed into the delivery room, finding Megan there, struggling painfully.

"You're doing great sweetheart." He yelled encouragingly, taking her hand.

"You took your bloody time!" She shrieked at the contraction came painfully. Obviously the whole thing about the second one being easier was a complete myth. She was suffering badly because of their child.

"Megan, the only way I could have got here faster was to jump out the plane." He explained. "I only landed fifteen minutes ago."

"Shut up you aaaaarrrrggghhhhhhh!" She screamed. The doctor overseeing the delivery observed her dutifully.

"The baby's crowning." He informed her. "It won't be much longer. Push!"

Megan did as she was told and began pushing. The incredible pain seemed to last for hours, but eventually it was all over. She slumped wearily into the pillow, all but completely spent.

"It's a girl." The doctor announced, presenting the newborn to its parents. "Congratulations."

"We have a little girl." Michael cooed as he looked fondly at the little bundle in his arms. "I still can't think there's anything better than this."

"She's beautiful." Megan commented. "We've done great."

Back in the apartment, Megan was pacing the room nervously as she and Lily awaited any signs of responsiveness from her husband.

"I wish I knew what he was thinking about." Lily thought aloud. "If we could just see what he was thinking about, maybe we could try and bring him out of this."

"Knowing him, he's trying to look for why this is his fault." Megan sighed. "Your dad always did take everything as his personal responsibility."

"I didn't want to reveal my identity." Lily sobbed as her tears began again. "If we'd just morphed, if I had been paying attention, if I hadn't gotten hurt..."

"Lily, you can't blame yourself." Megan interrupted her.

"He only used his mandrill spirit to save me." She replied. "If I hadn't..."

"Lily, your dad knew the risks." Megan reiterated. "He didn't think twice about it. You're one of the most precious things in the world to him."

"He is to me too." Lily stated. "I know I've been hurt by him, but I love him. More than anything else, I'm proud of him."

She grabbed his hand, squeezing it gently. "I'm so proud he's my dad."

In his mind, Michael re-lived the battle with Dai Shi. He had dared to attack his little girl. No one would dare touch any member of his family. He was so close to breaking point when Lily and her friends revealed their secret.

"I can't believe my little girl's a Power Ranger." He thought to himself. "She fought for me. RJ fought for me. I've been so wrong about them. I owe them an apology. One I'll give them in person!"

Michael stirred slowly and awoke, causing Lily and Megan to jump. He was still weak, and the room seemed to be spinning, but he had regained consciousness. He looked over to Lily, observing her thoughtfully.

"You're proud of me?" He asked.

"You heard that?" Lily asked in return.

"I heard everything." He informed her. "I'm so proud of you."

"Yeah, the Ranger thing." Lily replied. "I kind of figured..."

"No." He interrupted, bringing his hand up to her face, touching her cheek. "I'm proud to have you as a daughter."

"We have a lot to talk about." Lily stated, sniffing back some tears.

"I suppose we do." He replied. "But first, there's someone missing."

"Who?" Lily asked.

"My future son-in-law." He replied weakly. "I think this is something the whole family should be in on."


	9. A Reconciliation

Michael made his way into the main room. The others had been sent away to let RJ, Lily, Megan and Michael talk privately. They had a lot to talk about, and it wasn't going to be easy.

"Are you sure you're up to this?" RJ asked him as Michael sat down. It wasn't long ago he was unconscious, and he had no intention of draining him too much. He was trying to win Michael round, not put him six feet under.

"I'll survive." He responded. "I suppose we have a lot to talk about."

"I guess we do." Lily led off, holding RJ's hand for comfort. "Dad, how did you find out about your animal spirit?"

"I was about your age." He began. "Your mother and I were still dating. One night we went to see a film. On our way home, six guys jumped us and tried to take your mom's purse. I gave it to them, but one of them put his hands on Lisa and told us he wanted...more."

He stroked his neck nervously as he continued. "I had studied karate for years, and even though I knew taking on six of them was a bad move, I couldn't let them touch her. I took a couple of them down, but they overpowered me. One of them pulled a gun."

"What happened?" Lily asked.

"Before I knew what was going on, the mandrill came out of me and threw the guy with the gun against a wall." He replied. "It came into me and lent me its strength. Within a minute, all six of them were dead. Needless to say your mother and I were confused and terrified."

"So how did you end up working for the government?" Lily asked him.

"I had already applied to join the marines; I went to the local recruitment office." He continued. "While I was there, a couple of guys in suits showed up and played some security footage of the fight. I was sure they were feds. I thought they were going to lock me up for good. Instead they told me they knew what I could do and offered me a job. I was told they'd pay for Lisa's education and give us a home. I went home and told her what had happened. We shipped out the next week."

"So you became part of this project." Lily concluded.

"I've served with the project my entire career." He confirmed. "In two years I reach retirement age and will be allowed to leave."

"I thought you wanted to serve." Lily remarked.

"I did, I wasn't forced." He corrected her. "I always wanted to become a marine. When I was given that opportunity I thought it was all I ever wanted."

Lily sighed and prepared to explain everything. Her dad had told her more than enough to get him locked away for good under the patriot act, but more than that, she just owed it to him to explain everything.

"I didn't go to a boarding school." She began. "Pai Zhuq is a Kung Fu temple which specialises in training people to use their animal spirits."

"So you never graduated?" He asked.

"I did dad, we studied by correspondence." She told him. "We trained in Kung Fu and were taught deep meditation techniques that allow us to use our animal spirits."

She took his hands in her own looking into his eyes. "That guy who was attacking me is called Dai Shi. He's an evil spirit that believes animals should rule the earth and humans should be exterminated. Pai Zhuq has trained humans to use their animal spirits to ensure he fails for thousands of years. My friends and I are the latest generation of defenders."

"How did you become Power Rangers?" Michael asked her.

"Dai Shi was defeated and imprisoned in a box thousands of years ago." Lily recalled the tale. "He was accidentally released and killed our master, Master Mao. That's the real reason we went to Jungle Karma."

RJ pulled up his sleeve, exposing his master's tattoo.

"I'm a Pai Zhuq master." He told Michael. "I've been charged with helping the others defeat Dai Shi. I used my connections to Andrew Hartford..."

"Wait, Andrew Hartford?" Michael interrupted him. "The multi billionaire who created the Overdrive Rangers?"

"He is." RJ confirmed. "I used my connection to him to have the morphing technology that harnesses their animal spirits created. That was when they became Rangers."

"So you all have animal spirits?" Michael quizzed her.

"Everyone does." RJ stated with authority. "Most people aren't aware of it though. It usually takes a lot of training and preparation to harness it. That's why Pai Zhuq trains students."

"I can't believe this!" He sighed in shock. "There're more than half a dozen of us?"

"There have been quite a few." RJ informed him. "As you know, the animal spirit is very powerful. To make sure only those who would use it for good would be able to harness its power, Pai Zhuq has had a strict dogma of secrecy since its inception."

"I can imagine." He gasped. "With entire regiments of men wielding their animal spirits, a government could dominate the battlefield."

"That's exactly why we don't let people know about us." RJ told him. "If the government knew about us..."

"You'd either be press-ganged into becoming their new army," he interrupted, "or hunted down and destroyed as a threat to national security."

"The main reasons the government hasn't dominated the battlefield because of your powers is because there aren't many of you." RJ explained. "And because you aren't in synch with your animal spirit, you can't use it exhaustively."

"But you can?" He asked.

"Because of our training we can." Lily explained. "Dad, you can't tell anyone about us."

"Lily, I've served my country unquestioningly since I was your age." He told her.

"Dad, if you told them then we'd either be slaves, lab rats or targets." She implored him. "Dad, our lives wouldn't be worth living, we..."

"Lily, it goes against everything I've been taught to believe for years." He interrupted her. "And I couldn't care less."

He reached forward, placing his hand softly on her cheek. "If it's a contest between my country and my daughter, then there's no question." He told her, smiling. "You win hands down every time."

"You mean...?"

"I won't say a word." He assured them. "I'll serve my remaining two years, and then I'll refuse to re-enlist. You're far too precious to me to let anything like that happen."

He leaned across the table and kissed her cheek tenderly before returning to his seat and looking to RJ.

"So, you're a master eh?" He asked. "What's your animal spirit?"

"A wolf." He replied. "I'm the master of the wolf spirit."

"Loyal and dedicated to its kin and its pack to the risk of its own life." He quipped. "And I thought you wouldn't take care of Lily."

"Well I can understand your protectiveness." RJ stated. "The mandrill, a primate, family is all. Take on one, take on the colony."

"And the mandrill is fiercely protective." He concluded. "I'm sorry I gave you a hard time RJ."

"Like I said, I understand why." He replied. "I mean if I had kids..."

"Whao! I already avoided death once today!" He chuckled. "I accept you're marrying her. If you want to age me into an early grave, keep talking."

"So you're giving us your blessing?" Lily asked him. Michael smiled at her.

"Nothing would make me happier than giving you away." He responded. "I'm looking forward to it."

"Well I think Casey would have preferred us to solve our problems without getting his nose broken, but I'm grateful you're OK with this." RJ replied, offering Michael his hand. He looked to his daughter, seeing the bright smile he adored. He hadn't seen it since before her mother had died. She had smiled, but not THAT smile, the one that told him she was genuinely happy. He reached across, taking RJ's hand and shaking it warmly.

"Welcome to the family." He declared to a chorus of relieved sighs from Lily and Megan. "Now I just have to meet your dad."

"Well I can call him over to lunch tomorrow." He suggested. "How much leave do you have left?"

"I'll be going back at the weekend." He replied. "Lunch sounds great."

"Well I doubt Charlie will let us back in after our last little spat." RJ mused. "Looks like it's pizza."

"Well you owe me a Pepperoni." He quipped. "I heard everything remember?"

"I think I can manage that." RJ laughed. "I'll call dad. I think you'll like him."

The next day, Michael, Megan and the kids arrived at JKP, finding that unlike other days, it was closed for lunch. Looking through the glass in the door, they saw RJ in his best clothes, setting up the only table in the middle of the restaurant. All the other tables had been removed. Seeing them, he waved them in.

"I have our table set; and the others have the day off so we won't be disturbed." RJ told them, gesturing to the chairs. "Please take a seat, my delightful fiancée will be here..."

His words were cut off as Lily walked into the room. RJ found his breath taken away. He had never seen her dressed so formally. She was wearing a full-length black silk dress. Fran and Camille had helped her style her hair for the occasion. She had never looked more beautiful to him. She smiled and crossed the room, taking her place at the table.

"You look wonderful honey." Michael complimented her. "So when are we expecting..."

At that point Master Finn came into the restaurant. RJ couldn't but smack his palm to his forehead. He was wearing brightly-coloured dress robes from his days at Pai Zhuq, and polished though they were, he was still carrying his swords.

"Dad, we're meeting Lily's parents!" He reminded him. "You know normal types. Maybe you shouldn't have brought..."

"You're a Marine aren't you?" Finn asked Michael, ignoring his son. "You fight for the American way right?"

"I suppose, yes..."

"The Second Amendment is the right to bear arms isn't it?" He interrupted.

"Well yes it is." Michael replied.

"Forgive me if I'm wrong, but swords are a weapon." He remarked. "So it's my constitutional right to carry them."

"I guess it is." Michael replied with a smile. He could see what Lily meant when she said Finn was interesting. "Would you mind giving me a demonstration later?"

"Not at all." Master Finn replied.

"Dad, at least take them off for dinner." RJ groaned, holding out his hands. "I don't think the cruet sets are likely to attack you."

"Isn't it fun embarrassing your children?" Finn asked, taking off his sword-belt and handing it to RJ. He sat down next to Michael. "I suppose I have you to thank for making the girl who'll make an honest man out of RJ. I'm Master Finn."

"I'm Michael." He introduced himself, shaking his hand. "So Lily's married name will be Finn?"

"No." RJ explained. "When a Pai Zhuq becomes a master, he's granted a warrior name relating to their animal spirit as a title of honour to acknowledge his achievement. My dad is the shark master, so his name is Finn."

"So why do you not have a Master's title?" Michael asked.

"I do." RJ replied. "Because I have business relationships in the outside world, I choose not to use my Masters name."

"I didn't know you had a Masters name." Lily remarked. "What is it?"

"Master Fenris." He replied. "Knowing my real name, you can understand why I use RJ."

Lily sniggered in response, but held up a hand to her dad. "It's a private joke." She assured him. Finn leaned across and whispered something in Michael's ear that made him laugh.

"What did you tell him?" RJ shrieked, seeing their expressions.

"I told him your real name." Master Finn replied. "Now he's got blackmail material on you."

"We dads have to stick together." Michael remarked, lifting his bottle of beer. Master Finn lifted another, clinking it with Michael's

"To family?" Finn asked.

"To family!" Michael replied. RJ buried his face in his hands and shook his head in defeat.

"They like each other." Lily assured him.

"That just might be the problem." RJ responded. "This is going to be one wild wedding!"


	10. Back to Action

The night wore on as Master Finn and Michael exchanged embarrassing stories about their kids. In some ways it was a good thing that they seemed to like each other, but they insisted on tormenting their respective offspring the entire night. RJ took Lily's hand for comfort after Finn finished with the story of how he broke his leg trying to recreate a scene from a dance video.

"Well, dinner was fantastic." Finn declared, finishing off his plate. "I think you can safely say that Lily will never go hungry."

"Not if RJ continues to cook like this." Michael replied cheerfully. "So, do either of you have any ides when you'd like to make it official?"

"We're kind of concentrating on Dai Shi at the moment." RJ responded. "We really wanted to do it once, and do it right. You know, at a time where we can have a reception for all our friends and a decent honeymoon without having to rush back."

"I was also thinking it'd be nice to make it a double wedding." Lily chipped in. "Theo and Fran were kind of worried about scraping enough together for their own wedding, so we figured it'd make sense."

"I know I'd like to do it all again." Megan commented, hefting Stephanie into her arms. "We kind of rushed through it all the first time."

"Well if you do, I'd like to get an invite this time." Lily told them. "I kind of missed out on that."

"Well I'm really looking forward to the wedding." Finn stated, settling back into his seat. "I'd just love to see the kids again."

"Trust me; you only say that because you've seen them quiet." Megan chuckled. "When they're screaming the place down…."

"I'm sure they're fine." He replied. "Do you mind if I hold the baby? It's been years since three's been any youngsters in the family."

"Well it'll hopefully be a little while yet before there's any more." Michael replied. "I don't know if I could take being a grandpa at my age."

"Personally I'm looking forward to it." Finn said with a huge smile. "Another little…oh.

"She does that." Megan assured him, seeing the patch of baby sick on his tunic. "I'll clean it up."

"Oh there's no need for that." He said, waving her off. "RJ used to spit up on me all the time."

"Dad!" RJ yelled, turning a little red.

"Little hint, never give your kids blackcurrant juice." He replied sagely. "It never comes out. RJ ruined my favourite robes that way."

"Dad!" RJ yelled again, trying to hide his face. Lily just giggled and held him tightly.

"Oh I think it's adorable hearing your baby stories." She told him. "It really is sweet..."

"Kind of like when you pooped all over me?" Michael asked her. Lily's smile slipped as Finn laughed out loud. "Sometimes I wondered where you fit it all. The most amazing thing was the way you'd have this really cute little innocent smile on your face after you'd just laid something that violated international chemical weapons treaties."

"You know RJ; I'm beginning to think you're right." Lily commented as she pulled into him. "Maybe letting the parents meet was a bad idea."

"Oh let them have their fun." Megan said comfortingly. "It's a parent's prerogative to embarrass their kids. I'm sure I'll have just as much fun with Jack and Stephanie when they're old enough."

"And it'll be as much fun when we get a chance to torment our kid." Lily replied, stroking her abdomen softly. Michael and Finn instantly fell silent and stared at her.

"Not quite yet." She chuckled. "Gotcha."

"That girl's way too smart for her own good." Michael grumbled. "She sure didn't get that evil streak from my side of the family."

"I reckon your daughter's going to fit in just fine." Finn laughed as he appreciated the joke. "She certainly has no problem standing up to her father-in-law."

"She really is great." RJ replied, kissing her gently. Lily saw Jack cover his face.

"No need for that little guy." She told him. "You'll be dating before your mommy knows it."

"I'm just nervous about this one." Michael chipped in, gesturing to Stephanie. "By the time she's dating I'll be a pensioner."

"Anyway, I've enjoyed that." Finn replied, handing Stephanie back to her mother and collecting his sword belt. "Now, I believe I promised you a demonstration."

"That would be great." Michael replied, getting up from his chair and following Finn up into the apartment.

"Let's just hope dad doesn't get too enthusiastic." RJ groaned. "We've just redecorated."

"I'm sure they'll be fine." Megan assured him. "Now RJ, I think it's time you learned how to attach a diaper, and your sister-in-law's been kind enough to provide you with an opportunity."

"Are you sure she wouldn't mind her big brother...?"

"Come on Wolf Master." She giggled. "Don't tell me a little poopy nappy scares you."

RJ looked to his fiancée hopefully. She held her hands up defensively.

"Hey, I've already had that pleasure." She told him. "Besides, it'll be good practice. You don't think I'll be doing all the changing do you?"

RJ cleared a space on the table and laid down the changing mat. Megan laid the little girl down on the mat as RJ steeled himself for the horrors within. Pulling off the straps, he opened it up and immediately recoiled.

"Now that just can't be natural!" She moaned. "What do you feed her?"

"She's only six months." Lily reminded him. "She isn't onto solids yet, she'll still be nursing."

"I guess this is the definition of unconditional love." RJ sighed as he reached for the baby wipes. He looked once more to Lily, seeing the overjoyed expression on her face, and felt his heart lifting. He knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, and now he had another thought.

He turned back to his future sister-in-law and thought forward, imagining his own child. He could actually imagine having children with her, and the thought made him smile. He was no longer even aware of the horrendous odour from Stephanie's nappy.

"Come on little lady." He quipped cheerfully, beginning to clean her up. "This isn't so bad, I don't know what I was afraid of."

He finished up with the diaper, strapping on a fresh one before lifting Stephanie up into his arms. Lily came over to him, smiling and making faces at her little half-sister, putting an arm around her.

"You have no idea how right that looks." Megan commented, seeing Lily and RJ with the baby. Michael and Finn arrived back in the room, beholding the scene. Michael clutched his chest and staggered.

"Now that's just scary." He stated. "I just aged about a decade."

"Oh come on, don't try to tell me you can't imagine being called Grandpa." Megan answered. "Anyway, we really should let RJ set up the restaurant for tomorrow. The others will be back soon."

"Well remember to keep in touch." RJ told them. "We'd love to see you again before you go."

"We promise we will." Megan replied. "Come on old-timer, it's time we were getting these kids off to bed."

The next few days went by a little too quickly for Lily's liking. She couldn't believe how much had been resolved. Only a couple of days ago she had so much anger and resentment towards her father, and that had only gotten worse when she found out about Megan and the kids. Now though it felt good to know he was happy. They had talked so much that all of the issues between them had largely been resolved, so it was with a little sadness that they gathered outside JKP to bid them farewell.

"I'll write to you as soon as I get back." Michael promised her.

"I really wish you could stay longer." Lily sighed. "It feels like we've got so much to catch up on..."

Michael came over to her, touching her face gently. "We've lasted this long." He told her. "Two years should be easy."

"I'm really glad I met you all." RJ interjected, shaking Michael's hand. "We'll keep in touch and let you know what's happening here."

"Just keep us posted on this wedding." Megan instructed him. "We'd love to come."

"Well I'd just love to see these two again." Lily gushed as she hugged Jack tightly. "It's a shame we can't spend longer with each other."

"Well like I said, two years isn't a long time." Michael reiterated. "Take care of her RJ."

"You know I will Michael." RJ replied. Michael slowly started loading up his rental car with their luggage. Megan strapped the kids into the back as they prepared to depart.

"I'm really glad I finally got to meet you at last." Megan told Lily, hugging her once more. "Take care of yourself."

"I promise I will." Lily replied. "Go safely all of you."

Lily and RJ watched them go, happy at the events of the last few days. Lily shed a little tear as the car disappeared around the bend out of sight.

"Thanks RJ." She whispered, pulling in tightly to him. "I could never have gotten through this without you."

"I'm always here for you Lily." He replied, turning her face towards him and kissing her passionately, running his hand through her hair. "I'm really glad you sorted things out with your dad."

"Me too." She stated. "You were right. I did need to sort things out. Anyway, how about we go out to celebrate?"

"I'm afraid I won't be going out for a while." He replied. "I agreed to cover Casey's shifts."

"I suppose we do owe him." Lily sighed. "I really wish dad hadn't hit him like that."

"Well I think giving him a bit of time off is the least I could do." RJ chuckled, taking her back inside. "He did kind of take a big bullet for me there."

"Well I guess he did." Lily replied. "We really should make it up to him some time soon."

"Casey's a big boy, and he's got his time off to make him feel better." RJ told her. "In the meantime, the restaurant's closed, and we're here alone."

"What are you proposing?" She asked innocently, gently biting her lower lip. RJ just raised an eyebrow before closing the door and turning the sign to 'closed'. They were not being disturbed tonight.

Fin.


End file.
